Flash unit having movable light emitting unit and image pickup apparatus equipped with flash unit

A flash unit provided in an image pickup apparatus, the flash unit comprising:

• a first rotating shaft, a second rotating shaft, and a third rotating shaft that are arranged in parallel mutually;
• a light emitting unit and a first support member that are mutually and rotatably connected through said first rotating shaft;
• a second support member that is rotatably connected with said first support member through said second rotating shaft and is rotatably connected with the image pickup apparatus through said third rotating shaft;
• a first energizing member that gives energization force that spreads an angle between the light emitting unit and said first support member to the light emitting unit and said first support member;
• a second energizing member that gives energization force that spreads an angle between said first support member and said second support member to said first support member and said second support member;
• and
• a third energizing member that gives energization force that rotates said second support member around said third rotating shaft to said second support member,
• wherein said third rotating shaft is arranged more on a side of a back face of the image pickup apparatus than said first rotating shaft and said second rotating shaft is arranged more on a side of a front face of the image pickup apparatus than said first rotating shaft in a case where said light emitting unit is in a retracted position that is retracted inside the image pickup apparatus, and
• wherein said light emitting unit is moved from the retracted position to a light-emitting position that is projected from the image pickup apparatus when said light emitting unit rotates around said first rotating shaft by a predetermined angle according to the energization force of said first energizing member, said first support member rotates around said second rotating shaft by a predetermined angle according to the energization force of said second energizing member, and said second support member rotates around said third rotating shaft by a predetermined angle according to the energization force of said third energizing member.