A surgical stapling apparatus including a handle assembly, an elongated shaft extending distally from the handle assembly, a shell assembly containing a plurality of staples arranged in an annular array, and a firing mechanism for advancing staples from the shell assembly. An anvil assembly including a tiltable anvil head movable from an aligned operative position to a tilted position. A camera assembly is operatively coupled to a distal surface of the tiltable anvil head such that an orientation of the camera assembly changes as the anvil head moves from the operative to the tilted position.
