A lens barrel and an imaging apparatus is provided for securely connecting
an imaging element with an imaging circuit and advantageous in terms of
downsizing of devices. A plurality of first connecting terminals is
provided to a bottom face of an imaging element package. A flexible
circuit board is constituted by an imaging element mounting section, an
extending section and a connecting section. The imaging element mounting
section includes a flexible circuit board and a plurality of second
connecting terminals provided on a surface of the flexible circuit board
so that each of the second connecting terminals match with a
corresponding first connecting terminal. A metal plate is mounted at a
position where the outline of the metal plate matches the outline of the
package or the outline of the package is placed in the outline of the
metal plate as viewed from the thicknesswise direction of the package, on
the rear face of the imaging-element mounting section.