Patent ID: 7729060

Claim:
A lens barrel comprising: a moving frame which supports a lens system defining an imaging optical system, and has a cam pin; a linear-movement guide ring which guides the moving frame mutually non-rotatably but movably in an optical-axis direction of the lens system; and a cam ring which is supported by the linear-movement guide ring mutually rotatably but non-movably in the optical axis direction, and has a cam groove in a peripheral surface of the cam ring, the cam pin engaging with the cam groove, wherein the support of the cam ring by the linear-movement guide ring is provided when an engagement pawl provided at the linear-movement guide ring engages with an engagement groove formed in the peripheral surface of the cam ring in a plane orthogonal to an axial direction of the cam ring to extend in a circumferential direction of the peripheral surface, wherein the moving frame moves in the optical-axis direction via the cam groove and the cam pin when the cam ring is rotated, wherein the cam groove includes a plurality of first cam grooves provided at intervals in the circumferential direction of the peripheral surface, and a plurality of second cam grooves provided at positions of the peripheral surface at intervals in the circumferential direction of the peripheral surface, the positions being different from those of the first cam grooves in an axial direction, the first and second cam grooves having equivalent loci, wherein the cam pin includes first and second cam pins which respectively engage with the first and second cam grooves, wherein the engagement groove intersects with at least one of the first and second cam grooves, and wherein the engagement pawl has a width larger than a groove width of the first or second cam groove which intersects with the engagement groove.