Patent ID: 7626621

Claim:
An optical instrument comprising: a lens unit which has a plurality of lenses; a solid-state image pickup element which is curved in a concave shape toward the lens unit and picks up an image focused by the lens unit; and a curvature changing portion comprising a moving member which is in direct physical contact with the solid-state image pickup element and is movable in a first direction that crosses a second direction in which light is incident on the solid-state image pickup element to change a curvature of the solid-state image pickup element, wherein switching between at least a telephoto mode for shooting a distant subject and a wide-angle mode for shooting a wide range can be carried out, and the curvature of the solid-state image pickup element is changed by the curvature changing portion so that the solid-state image pickup element is curved at a first curvature in the telephoto mode and the solid-state image pickup element is curved at a second curvature that is larger than the first curvature in the wide-angle mode.