Patent ID: 8068287

Claim:
A lens barrel, comprising: a lens holding frame configured to hold a lens and being provided with a cam follower; a guide tube engaging with said lens holding frame and being configured to rectilinearly guide said lens holding frame in an optical axis direction; and a cam tube engaging with said guide tube and being provided with a cam slot which engages with said cam follower, said cam tube being configured to rotate about the optical axis thereby to move said lens holding frame in the optical axis direction, wherein as seen in an extending direction in which said cam slot extends, said cam slot has a locus including a flat portion orthogonal to the optical axis and a lift portion not orthogonal to the optical axis, wherein as seen in an extending direction in which said cam slot extends, the flat portion has a perpendicular surface perpendicular to the optical axis, wherein as seen in an extending direction in which said slot extends, said cam follower is provided with a parallel surface parallel with the perpendicular surface at a position opposing the perpendicular surface, and wherein as seen in an extending direction in which said cam slot extends, a spacing distance between the parallel surface of said cam follower and a surface of said lift portion provided at the position opposing the parallel surface of said cam follower is larger than a spacing distance between the parallel surface of said cam follower and the perpendicular surface of said flat portion.