Varifocal objective with mechanism for closeup focusing

Claim 1

In a camera comprising a housing, a lens barrel projecting from said housing, said lens barrel being centered on an optical axis, and an objective centered on said axis, said objective including a front component held in a first lens mount, a variator component held in a second lens mount and a compensator component held in a third lens mount, said lens mounts being axially shiftable in said lens barrel, camming means operatively coupled with said second and third lens mount for axially shifting same to change the focal length of the objective between a wide-angle end and a telephoto end of a varifocal range while keeping an image plane of the objective coincident with a receiving surface, and setting means independent of said camming means coupled with said first lens mount for axially shifting same to project upon said receiving surface the images of objects located at different distances from the camera within a normal focusing range, the combination therewith of a coupling element projecting outwardly from said lens barrel for manual rotation about said axis between two alternate positions, and a link member in said lens barrel connected with said element for joint rotation and with said first lens mount for axial entrainment thereby, said link member and said third lens mount being provided with complementary formations disengaged from each other in one of said alternate positions but aligned with each other in predetermined positions of said setting means and said camming means for enabling interengagement of said formations upon a rotation of said element into the other alternate position thereof, such interengagement facilitating a joint axial shifting of said front and compensator components into a macro range under the control of said setting means to project upon said receiving surface the images of objects closer than said normal focusing range.