Patent ID: 8639109

Claim:
A stereoscopic imaging apparatus comprising: an objective optical system that has a function of forming a subject as a real image or a virtual image; a plurality of imaging optical systems that allow a plurality of light beams of the subject, which are emitted in different paths of the objective optical system by a plurality of independent optical systems, to be imaged again as a parallax image, respectively; a plurality of imaging devices that are provided in correspondence with the plurality of imaging optical systems, and convert the parallax image that is imaged by the plurality of imaging optical systems into an image signal; and a control unit, that performs a control for disposing or moving a front-side principal point of each of the imaging optical systems, so that a ratio of a length of a perpendicular line vertically drawn from each front-side principal point of the plurality of imaging optical systems to an optical axis of the objective optical system with respect to a length of a line segment connecting an intersection point at which the perpendicular line and the optical axis of the objective optical system intersect each other and a focal point of the objective optical system becomes constant, and the control unit performs focus adjustment by moving each of the imaging optical systems of a pair of imaging optical systems without changing an inter-lens distance of the respective pair of imaging optical systems, the inter-lens distance of the respective pair of imaging optical systems being a distance between respective virtual pupils of the pair of imaging optical systems, and each of the virtual pupils being a point through which light beams, which pass through the objective optical system and through a lens center of a respective imaging optical system, pass.