Patent ID: 7338219

Claim:
A retractable lens system comprising a plurality of optical elements of a photographing optical system, all of said plurality of optical elements being positioned on a common optical axis when said retractable lens system is in a ready-to-photograph state, when said retractable lens system changes from said ready-to-photograph state to a retracted state, at least one removable optical element of said plurality of optical elements is moved to a removed position outside of said common optical axis, and said removable optical element and at least one optical element of the remaining optical elements of said plurality of optical elements are moved rearward, said at least one optical element of said remaining optical elements including a linearly movable element which moves in said common optical axis direction without changing a distance between said linearly movable element and said removable optical element in said common optical axis direction when said retractable lens system is in said ready-to-photograph state, and at least a part of said removable optical element and at least a part of said linearly movable element being positioned to lie in a common plane perpendicular to said common optical axis when said retractable lens system changes from said ready-to-photograph state to said retracted state.