Patent ID: 8610816

Claim:
An optical element drive mechanism of an image pickup apparatus having a lens group disposed on a first optical axis along which light beams from an object are incident, and an optical element disposed on the first optical axis and configured to bend the light beams propagating along the first optical axis toward along a second optical axis, the optical element being movable between a storage state and a photographing state, the optical element drive mechanism comprising: a drive mechanism configured to rotatably drive a rotary cylinder mounted with the lens group, said drive mechanism being operable in conjunction with a drive source; a driving force transmission gear train for operation of the optical element, having an input-side gear for driving the optical element, and configured to have the input-side gear in engagement with an output-side gear so as to output a rotational driving force of the rotary cylinder in a case where the rotary cylinder is in the photographing state, and configured to release the engagement between the input-side gear and the output-side gear in a case where the rotary cylinder is in the storage state; an optical element moving operation mechanism configured to move the optical element between the storage state and the photographing state in conjunction with the driving force transmission gear train; and an urging member configured to urge the driving force transmission gear train in one direction so as to move the optical element from the photographing state to the storage state, wherein the driving force transmission gear train releases the engagement between the input-side gear and the output-side gear in a case where the rotary cylinder shifts from the photographing state to the storage state.