Patent ID: 8824059

Claim:
A zoom lens system comprising a negative first lens group, a positive second lens group, and a positive third lens group, in that order from the object side, wherein said second lens group constitutes a focusing lens group that is moved in the optical axis direction during a focusing operation, and wherein the following conditions (1) and (2) are satisfied: 0.4<| d 12 w/f 1|<1.0 (1); and d 12 w<d 23 w (2), wherein f1 designates the focal length of said first lens group, d12w designates the air-distance between the surface closest to the image side of said first lens group to the surface closest to the object side of said second lens group at the short focal length extremity, and d23w designates the air-distance between the surface closest to the image side of said second lens group to the surface closest to the object side of said third lens group at the short focal length extremity.