| US 7,611,296 B2 | ||
| Optical apparatus including diaphragm device | ||
| Youichi Iwasaki, Utsunomiya (Japan); and Shigeru Ogino, Laguna Niguel, Calif. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Aug. 15, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/464,747. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/715104, filed on Sep. 08, 2005. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/728127, filed on Oct. 19, 2005. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0053684 A1, Mar. 08, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. G03B 9/02 (2006.01); G03B 9/07 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 396—505 | 2 Claims |
| 1. A lens apparatus comprising:
a lens barrel;
an image-capturing optical system; and
a diaphragm device disposed in an optical path of the image-capturing optical system,
wherein the diaphragm device includes,
a plurality of diaphragm blades, and
an electroactive polymer actuator configured to move the plurality of diaphragm blades from a diaphragm-open state to a diaphragm-closed
state and from a diaphragm-closed state to a diaphragm-open state,
wherein the electroactive polymer actuator is a two-phase electroactive polymer actuator, and
wherein when the two-phase electroactive polymer actuator is in a non-conductive state, the plurality of diaphragm blades
is kept at an intermediate diaphragm position.
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