Patent ID: 7336894

Claim:
A lighting device for an electronic endoscope system, the lighting device comprising: a light source; a set of rotary shutters comprising at least two rotary shutters, and having a rotational axis parallel to an optical axis of said light source, said at least two rotary shutters alternately intercepting incident illuminating light emitted from said light source and allowing said incident illuminating light to pass through said set of rotary shutters toward a light guide, wherein said at least two rotary shutters are associated with each other and configured to integrally rotate about said rotational axis, each of said at least two rotary shutters having at least one light-shielding portion and at least one opening; a first motor that integrally rotates said set of rotary shutters; and an adjusting device which rotates one of said at least two rotary shutters relative to an other of said at least two rotary shutters to change an opening angle of said at least one opening to adjust an amount of said illuminating light which passes through said set of rotary shutters, and said adjusting device including a second motor that rotates said one of said at least two rotary shutters relative to the other of said at least two rotary shutters.