Patent ID: 7471464

Claim:
A lens holder comprising: an inner barrel for holding at least one lens; an outer barrel that is positioned outside the inner barrel and supports the inner barrel so that the inner barrel linearly slides along a central axis thereof across an inner surface of the outer barrel; and a cam barrel that rotates in a state where the cam barrel is coaxially disposed between the inner barrel and the outer barrel, wherein a driven part is provided on the inner barrel, an operating slit is provided on the outer barrel, and the cam barrel comprises: at least two subunits of the same shape produced by dividing the cam barrel on a plane that includes the central axis, the at least two subunits rotating together to function as the cam barrel but being independent in mechanical and structural term to pull the at least two subunits onto the outer barrel individually; an operating part that passes through the operating slit provided on the outer barrel and moves at least one of the subunits to rotate the cam barrel; a helical cam mechanism that slides, via the driven part provided on the inner barrel, the inner barrel forward or backward along the central axis when the cam barrel rotates; and a locking mechanism for pulling one of the at least two subunits individually to other of the at least two subunits onto the outer barrel to stop rotation of the cam barrel.