Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes a movable image bearing member; a charger for electrically charging the image bearing member; developing device for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the image bearing member; illumination device disposed between the charger and the developing device, for illuminating the image bearing member to remove the electric charge from the image bearing member to prevent deposition of a developer by the developing device in an area exposed to the illumination thereof, the illumination device including a plurality of LED elements arranged substantially along a line extending in a direction crossing with a direction of movement of the image bearing member and light blocking element provided correspondingly to each of the LED elements and having substantially rectangular apertures each of which allows light from the associated LED element to pass to the image bearing member to illuminate it with a substantially rectangular illumination area; and controller for controlling actuation of each of the LED elements. Thus, a non-image area can be changed, and the boundary between the non-image area and an adjacent image area is sharp because the illumination area provided is in a rectangular form.