JPH08304685A - Lens barrel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a lens barrel having structure that the lens barrel is not made large even through the front end of a front group lens supporting barrel projected forward is covered with outside appearance components such as a decorative sheet and a decorative seal provided at the front edge of a cylindrical member. CONSTITUTION: This lens barrel is provided with the cylindrical member 20; the lens supporting barrel 34 supporting a front group lens L1 and fitted in the inner side of the member 20; annular bearing surfaces 34f and 40b formed on the same plane orthgonally crossed with an optical axis O extending over both of the front end face of the supporting barrel 34 and the front end face of the member 20; and the annular decorative sheet 50 fixed on the annular bearing surface.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lens barrel, and more particularly to a lens barrel having a cosmetic plate, a cosmetic sticker or the like provided at the tip of the lens barrel for aesthetic purposes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the conventional lens barrel,
It is common practice to provide external parts such as a decorative plate and a decorative seal on the external part of the front end of the lens barrel for aesthetic purposes. In a lens barrel of the type in which the front lens group support tube that fixes and supports the front lens group inside is fixed to a fixed or movable lens barrel member (cylindrical member), the front lens group support is supported when the lens barrel is disassembled. In order to remove the barrel from the barrel member, a grip allowance having a knurled groove or the like is formed at the front end of the front lens group support barrel. For this reason, the front end portion of the front lens group support cylinder projects forward by the amount that forms the grip margin.

When the front end portion of the front lens group support barrel on which the pin allowance is formed protrudes more forward than the front end of the lens barrel member, the protruding front end portion is a decorative plate provided at the front end of the lens barrel member. It can be configured to cover up. However,
In this configuration, since the decorative plate has a shape that covers the front surface of the front end portion of the front lens group supporting cylinder, the length of the decorative plate in the optical axis direction increases, and as a result, the lens barrel becomes large. Therefore, this configuration is disadvantageous in reducing the size of the lens barrel. It is possible to make the front end of the front lens group support barrel uncovered with a decorative plate in order to prevent the lens barrel from becoming large, but in this case, the front end of the front lens group support barrel with a picking margin is formed. The parts are unfavorable in appearance because of the appearance.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and is an external component such as a decorative plate or a decorative seal provided at the front end of a tubular member, which is a front lens group support projecting forward. An object of the present invention is to provide a lens barrel having a structure in which the lens barrel does not become large even if the front end of the barrel is covered.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A lens barrel of the present invention comprises a tubular member; a lens support barrel supporting a front lens group and fitted inside the tubular member; a front end face of the lens support barrel and a front end of the tubular member. It is characterized in that it has an annular seat surface formed on the same plane orthogonal to the optical axis so as to extend over both end surfaces of the surface; and an annular decorative thin plate fixed to this annular seat surface.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows a lens barrel 10 to which the present invention is applied, which is integrated with a compact camera. The lens barrel 10 is a two-stage extension type zoom lens barrel having a fixed barrel 16, a first payout barrel 18, and a second payout barrel (cylindrical member) 20, and includes a front lens group L1. The focal length is changed by moving along the optical axis O direction,
Focusing is performed by moving the rear lens group L2 back and forth with respect to the front lens group L1.

An opening 14 is formed in the front surface of the camera body 12, and a fixed lens barrel 16 is fixed to a fixing portion (not shown) of the camera inside the opening 14. A first delivery barrel 18 is fitted inside the fixed barrel 16, and a second delivery barrel 20 is fitted inside the first delivery barrel 18.
Is fitted. The first delivery lens barrel 18 is a rotating barrel that is rotated and delivered from the fixed lens barrel 16, and the second delivery lens barrel 20.
Is a rectilinear barrel that is extended from the first delivery barrel 18 without rotating with respect to the fixed barrel 16.

When a zoom switch (not shown) provided on the camera is operated to the telephoto side (tele side), a zoom motor (not shown) is activated to move the fixed lens barrel 16 to the first delivery lens barrel 18 and the second lens barrel. When each of the extension lens barrels 20 is extended toward the front of the optical axis O (left side in FIG. 1) and the zoom switch is operated to the wide-angle side (wide side), the first extension lens barrel 18 and the second extension lens barrel 20. Move toward the rear of the optical axis O. FIG. 1 shows that the first delivery barrel 1 is provided inside the fixed barrel 16.
8 shows the housed state of the lens barrel 10 in which 8 and the second delivery barrel 20 are housed.

The present invention does not relate to the feeding mechanism of the lens barrel 10 for moving the first feeding barrel 18 and the second feeding barrel 20 forward and backward, and therefore the description of the feeding mechanism will be omitted. As the feeding mechanism, various known feeding mechanisms can be applied.

The second delivery barrel 20 has a tubular portion 20a fitted in the first delivery barrel 18, and a front flange portion (flange portion) 20b extending inward from the front end portion of the tubular portion 20a. Therefore, an AF / AE shutter unit 30 including a DC motor 32 for AF and a photo interrupter (not shown) is provided inside the tubular portion 20a.

The AF / AE shutter unit 30 has an annular member composed of a tubular portion 39a whose outer peripheral surface is fixed to the tubular portion 20a and a support flange portion 39b which extends inward from the front end portion of the tubular portion 39a. Have 39. The DC motor 32 has the support flange portion 3 via the plurality of screws 33.
It is arranged between the front flange portion 20b and the support flange portion 39b while being fixed to 9b.

The front flange portion 20b and the support flange portion 3
Engagement portions 37 and 3 for engaging the front lens group support barrel (lens support barrel) 34 on the respective inner peripheral edge portions of 9b.
9c is formed. The front lens group support cylinder 34 includes a front engagement portion 34 formed on the outer peripheral surface near the front end portion 34a.
b and a rear engaging portion 34c formed at the rear end, and with the front engaging portion 34b and the rear engaging portion 34c engaged with the engaging portion 37 and the engaging portion 39c, respectively. The second delivery lens barrel 20 is fitted. The engaging portion 37 and the front engaging portion 34b are configured as a bayonet mount. Therefore, the front lens group support barrel 34 is detachably fitted to the second delivery lens barrel 20 via the bayonet mount. There is. The front lens group L1 is fixed to the front lens group support cylinder 34 via a lens pressing ring 35. A male screw 35a is formed on the lens pressing ring 35, and the male screw 35a is screwed into a female screw 34b formed along the inner circumference of the front end portion 34a of the front lens group supporting cylinder 34.

At the front end portion 34a of the front lens group supporting barrel 34, there is a knurled groove 34e which is used when the front lens group supporting barrel 34 is fitted into the second feeding lens barrel 20 or detached from the second feeding lens barrel 20. A plurality of them are formed at equal intervals.
In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, only one claw groove 34e appears. The front end portion 34a of the front lens group support barrel 34 is the front end of the second delivery barrel 20, that is, the front surface 2 of the front flange portion 20b.
It protrudes to the front of the optical axis O from 0d.

A front lens group L is provided inside the second delivery lens barrel 20.
A rear lens group L2 is provided behind the first lens group 1. The rear group lens L2 is supported by a rear group lens support cylinder 36 which is guided by a known guide means (not shown) so as to be linearly movable along the optical axis O with respect to the second delivery barrel 20. .

The AF / AE shutter unit 30 includes a support flange portion 39 of the AF / AE shutter unit 30.
It has a feed screw (not shown) extending rearward from b in parallel with the optical axis O. The front end of the feed screw is connected to the DC motor 32, and the feed screw rotates when the motor is started. Further, this feed screw is screwed into a female screw hole (not shown) formed in the rear lens group supporting cylinder 36.

As is well known, the AF / AE shutter unit 30 moves the rear lens group L2 relative to the front lens group L1 based on an object distance signal from a distance measuring device (not shown) to bring the lens into focus. Move to position. At this time, the rear lens group L2 is moved by driving the DC motor 32 to rotate the feed screw (not shown), and the rear lens group L2 is moved by the rotation amount of the feed screw. When it is detected via the photo interrupter (not shown) that the object has reached a predetermined rotation amount corresponding to the object distance signal, D
It is determined by stopping the C motor 32. AF
/ AE shutter unit 30 is a photometric device (not shown)
It has a shutter blade 38 that opens and closes in accordance with the subject brightness signal from.

The front flange portion 20b of the second delivery lens barrel 20.
The front surface (front end surface) 20 of the front flange portion 20b.
A decorative plate (annular cover member) 40 is provided along d. The decorative plate 40 is fixed to the front surface 20d via a plurality of screws 42 screwed into the front flange portion 20b. The decorative plate 40 is formed with a plurality of recesses 40a for preventing the screw heads 42a of the screws 42 from protruding from the front surface of the decorative plate 40. The screws 42 are screwed into the recesses 40a, respectively. There is. 1 and 2, one screw 42 and one recess 4 corresponding to this screw 42 are shown.
Only 0a has appeared.

An annular seat surface 34f is formed on the front end portion 34a of the front lens group support cylinder 34 along the front end portion 34a, and on the front surface (front end surface) of the decorative plate 40, along this front surface. And an annular seat surface 40b is formed. The seat surface 34f and the seat surface 40b are formed on the same plane extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the optical axis O. A cosmetic sticker (decorative thin plate) 50 is adhered to both the seating surface 34f and the seating surface 40b with an adhesive or the like for the purpose of aesthetic appearance of the front end of the lens barrel 10. That is, the front end portion 3 of the front lens group support tube 34
4a and the decorative plate 40, the front end portion 34a and the decorative plate 4
The seat surface 34f and the seat surface 40b straddle both front end surfaces
A common annular seat surface is formed, and the decorative seal 50 is fixed on this seat surface. This makeup sticker 5
The annular seat surface for fixing 0 is straddled over the front end portions of both the front end portion 34a of the front lens group support tube 34 and the decorative plate 40, that is, substantially, the front end portion 34a of the front group lens support tube 34. It is a characteristic part of the present invention that it is formed so as to straddle the front end faces of both the first and second delivery lens barrels 20.

FIG. 3 shows a conventional lens barrel 10 '. In this lens barrel 10 ', substantially the same members as those of the lens barrel 10 of this embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. In the lens barrel 10 ′, in order to hide the front end portion 34 a of the front lens group support barrel 34, which projects forward of the optical axis O with respect to the front surface 20 d of the front flange portion 20 b of the second delivery barrel 20, for the purpose of aesthetic purposes, the front end portion Extending portion 40c extending forward of 34a
Is formed integrally with the decorative plate 40. In the lens barrel 10 to which the present invention is applied, the conventional lens barrel 1
The seat surface on which the cosmetic seal 50 is provided does not straddle the front end surface of both the front end portion 34a of the front lens group support tube 34 and the front surface of the decorative plate 40 without providing the extension portion 40c and the like formed in 0 '. Since the structure is formed as described above, the length of the decorative plate 40 in the optical axis O direction has been successfully shortened. Therefore, the lens barrel 10 of the present invention is the same as the conventional lens barrel 1.
Compared with 0 ', the total length is shortened by shortening the length of the decorative plate 40 in the optical axis O direction.

In this embodiment, the decorative seal 50 is attached to the seat surface 34.
Although it is configured to be adhered to f and the seat surface 40b via an adhesive or the like, the decorative seal 50 is attached to the seat surface 34f and the seat surface 40b by using other fixing means such as a screw or an engaging claw. It may be fixed.

Further, in this embodiment, the decorative plate 40 is fixed to the front flange portion 20b of the second delivery lens barrel 20, but in the case where the front flange portion 20b is not provided with the decorative plate 40, A seat surface equivalent to the seat surface 40b is formed on the front surface of the front flange portion 20b.
Alternatively, the makeup seal 50 may be fixed.

In this embodiment, the AF / AE shutter unit 30 has been described as the AF / AE shutter unit, but other AF / AE shutter units may be used.

In the present embodiment, the lens barrel 10 having a two-stage extension type zoom mechanism as the lens barrel has been described. For example, a multi-stage extension lens barrel having three or more stages or a telephoto and wide-angle two-focal point lens. It is possible to apply the present invention to a multifocal type lens barrel that can be switched between them, a monofocal type lens barrel, and the like.

[0024]

As described above, according to the lens barrel of the present invention, the annular seating surface is formed on the same plane orthogonal to the optical axis, straddling the front end faces of the tubular member and the lens support barrel. However, since the annular decorative thin plate is fixed to the annular seating surface, external parts such as a decorative plate and a decorative seal provided at the front end of the tubular member are
Even if the front end portion of the front lens group supporting cylinder protruding forward is covered, the lens barrel does not become large.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an upper half of an optical axis of a lens barrel to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an upper half of an optical axis of a conventional lens barrel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Lens barrel 12 Camera body 14 Opening 16 Fixed barrel 18 First delivery barrel 20 Second delivery barrel (cylindrical member) 20b Front flange (flange) 30 AF / AE shutter unit 32 DC motor 34 Front group Lens support cylinder (lens support cylinder) 34e Claw groove 34f Seat surface 35 Lens pressing ring 36 Rear group lens support cylinder 38 Shutter blade 39 Annular member 39a Cylindrical part 39b Support flange part 40 Decorative plate (annular cover member) 40a Recess 40b Seat Surface 42 Screw 50 Decorative seal (decorative thin plate) L1 Front group lens L2 Rear group lens

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A tubular member; a lens support tube that supports a front lens group and is fitted inside the tubular member; straddles the front end surface of the lens support tube and both end surfaces of the front end surface of the tubular member. A lens barrel having an annular seating surface formed on the same plane orthogonal to the optical axis; and an annular decorative thin plate fixed to the annular seating surface. 2. The tubular member according to claim 1, wherein the tubular member has a tubular portion and a flange portion that extends inward from a front end portion of the tubular portion, and the annular seat surface is a front end surface of the flange portion. And a lens barrel formed by straddling both end faces of the front end face of the lens support barrel. 3. The flange portion according to claim 2, further comprising an annular cover member fixed to the flange portion, the annular cover member being a member different from the tubular member, and the annular seating surface of the annular cover member. A lens barrel formed so as to straddle the front end face and both end faces of the front end face of the lens support barrel. 4. The lens support cylinder according to claim 1, wherein a knurl groove for rotating the lens support cylinder is formed, and the decorative thin plate hides the knurl groove. Is a lens barrel.