US Patent 6891679 Optical system and image pickup apparatus

An image pickup apparatus comprises a substrate; an image pickup element to convert a converged light flux to electronic signals; an image-taking optical element positioned so as to converge a light flux from an object onto the image pickup element; a light shielding member to house the image pickup element and the image-taking optical element; a controlling device to control an output of the electronic signals and controlling the image pickup element; and a refracting power-variable optical element.