Flexible printed wiring board arrangement of an imaging device

1. A flexible printed wiring board arrangement of an imaging device, comprising:

an image pickup device fixing member to which an image pickup device is fixed;

a holding member which holds said image pickup device fixing member;

an inclination angle adjusting mechanism for changing an inclination angle of said image pickup device fixing member relative to said holding member;

a flexible printed wiring board which extends from said image pickup device; and

a flexible printed wiring board support member which is fixed to said holding member at a position behind said image pickup device fixing member, a part of said flexible printed wiring board being in contact with said flexible printed wiring board support member.

2. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein said flexible printed wiring board comprises:

an elastic deformable portion which is elastically deformed in a space between said flexible printed wiring board support member and said image pickup device fixing member when said inclination angle of said image pickup device fixing member relative to said holding member is changed by said inclination angle adjusting mechanism; and

a surface contacting portion which is continuous with said elastic deformable portion and is in contact with a front surface of said flexible printed wiring board support member behind said image pickup device.

3. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 2 , wherein said flexible printed wiring board further comprises a front supported portion supported by a rear surface of said image pickup device fixing member, and

wherein said elastic deformable portion comprises a U-shaped folded portion provided between said surface contacting portion and said front supported portion of said flexible printed wiring board.

4. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein said image pickup device fixing member, said holding member and said flexible printed wiring board support member are driven integrally in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis by a driving device.

5. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 4 , further comprising a stationary support member provided behind said flexible printed wiring board support member in said optical axis direction, a part of said flexible printed wiring board being fixed to said stationary support member.

6. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 5 , wherein each of said flexible printed wiring board support member and said stationary support member comprises a plate substantially parallel to said plane in which said image pickup device fixing member, said holding member and said flexible printed wiring board support member are integrally driven by said driving device.

7. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein said inclination angle adjusting mechanism comprises:

a plurality of through-holes formed in said image pickup device fixing member to be positioned dispersively around a center of said image pickup device;

a plurality of screw holes provided with on said holding member;

a plurality of adjusting screws including a plurality of screw shaft portions and a plurality of head portions, respectively, wherein said screw shaft portions pass through corresponding said through-holes to be screw-engaged in corresponding said screw holes, respectively, and wherein said head portions are in contact with said image pickup device fixing member; and

a biasing device which biases said image pickup device fixing member in a direction away from said holding member so that said image pickup device fixing member comes in contact with back surfaces of said head portions.

8. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 7 , wherein said biasing device comprises a plurality of compression coil springs installed between said holding member and said image pickup device fixing member around said screw shaft portions, respectively.

9. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 7 , wherein said plurality of screw holes are formed in a plurality of nuts fixed to said holding member, respectively.

10. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein said imaging device comprises a digital camera.

11. A flexible printed wiring board arrangement of an imaging device, comprising:

an image pickup device unit which holds an image pickup device and is movable in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis;

an inclination angle adjusting mechanism for changing an inclination angle of said image pickup device relative to said optical axis in said image pickup device unit; and

a flexible printed wiring board which extends from said image pickup device,

wherein said image pickup device unit comprises:

a flexible printed wiring board guide device which allows a portion of said flexible printed wiring board which is positioned inside of said image pickup device unit to be elastically deformed in said image pickup device unit while restraining another portion of said flexible printed wiring board which is positioned outside of said image pickup device unit from being elastically deformed.

12. The flexible printed wiring board arrangement according to claim 11 , wherein said flexible printed wiring board guide device comprises a support plate which lies in a plane orthogonal to said optical axis, a part of said flexible printed wiring board being in contact with said support plate.