Sony Corporation

Syougo Kato

Shinichi Kano

In an image pickup apparatus having an openable and closable shutter mechanism to protect an image pickup lens portion of a ultra-small and light-weight video camera, the shutter mechanism is composed of a drive mechanismincluding an output shaft rotated by a motorthrough a deceleration mechanism, a cam plateengaged with the output shaft of the drive mechanismto be rotated through a shaft mechanism coaxial with the output shaft, a shutter plateengaged with a cam grooveof the cam plateto be slidably lowered and elevated in the longitudinal direction of a video camera body portion to open and close the front surface of the image pickup lens portion and a clutch mechanism provided in the drive mechanismto isolate a drive transmission system of the output shaft and the motorwhen external force stronger than predetermined external force is applied to the shutter platewhich is being opened and closed. In the ultra-small micro MV video camera, the shutter mechanism to protect the image pickup lens portion can be miniaturized, the shutter mechanism can be avoided from being broken and the highly-precise shutter mechanism can be obtained by simple and easy assembly.

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Tokyo, Japan

Syougo Kato