Color image pickup device

Claim 1

A color image pickup device comprising: a pickup tube having an image-forming surface at its front face; a multi-lenticular lens disposed at a specific distance in front of the image-forming surface and comprising a plurality of cylindrical lens elements arranged transversely in side-byside positions with a predetermined pitch P, the cylindrical lens elements facing the image-forming surface; a color-resolving stripe filter disposed at a specific distance in front of the lenticular lens and comprising a plurality of groups of filter elements, each group comprising a plurality of filter elements respectively passing light of different wavelengths and disposed successively in a predetermined sequence, which is repeated in all other groups, each group having a predetermined transverse width K which is two times the predetermined pitch P; and an objective lens disposed in front of the color-resolving stripe filter and between said filter and an object to be picked up; the lenticular lens and the color-resolving stripe filter being so arranged and adapted that a first distance between a principal plane at which light rays passing through the focal points of the lenticular lens change their paths of advance to become parallel to the optical axis within the lentIcular lens and the surface of the color-resolving stripe filter facing the lenticular lens is equal to a second distance between a plane passing through the optical centers of all lens elements of the lenticular lens and the image-forming surface.