Patent ID: 7079325

Claim:
A taking lens apparatus comprising: a zoom lens system that is composed of a plurality of lens units and that achieves zooming by varying distances between the lens units; and an image sensor that converts an optical image formed by the zoom lens system into an electrical signal; wherein the zoom lens system comprises: a first lens unit that is disposed at an object-side end of the zoom lens system, that has a negative optical power as a whole, and that remains stationary relative to the image sensor during zooming of the zoom lens system, the first lens unit including a cemented lens element, the cemented lens element including a negative lens element and a positive lens element; a second lens unit that is disposed on an image-sensor side of the first lens unit with a variable aerial distance secured in between, that has a positive optical power as a whole, and that moves toward an object side during zooming of the zoom lens system from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end; and a third lens unit that is disposed on an image-sensor side of the second lens unit with a variable aerial distance secured in between, that has a positive optical power as a whole, and that moves toward an image side during initial zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end.