Patent ID: 7218460

Claim:
A lens barrel, comprising: a telescopic cylinder configured to be accommodated within a fixed cylinder; a plurality of lenses configured to be retained in the telescopic cylinder; a plurality of lens retaining frames, each lens retaining frame configured to retain at least one lens in the plurality of lenses; a lens driving device configured to drive the plurality of lens retaining frames so as to drive the plurality of lenses along a longitudinal axis of the telescopic cylinder between a collapsed position in which at least one portion of the plurality of lenses is stored in the fixed cylinder and an extended position in which the at least one portion of the plurality of lenses is extended out of the fixed cylinder toward a photographing subject; at least one retractable lens configured to be retracted into the fixed cylinder through an opening in a wall of the fixed cylinder when the telescopic cylinder is in the extended position; a retractable lens retaining frame configured to retain the at least one retractable lens, wherein the lens driving device is configured to drive the retractable lens retaining frame so that the retractable lens is retracted into the fixed cylinder when the telescopic cylinder is in the extended position; and an impact preventing member, wherein, if the plurality of lenses are in the extended position and an external impact is received by the lens barrel, the impact preventing member is configured to abut against at least either one of the plurality of lens retaining frames or the telescopic cylinder to prevent the plurality of lens retaining frames from moving to the collapsed state and contacting the retractable lens retaining frame.