Patent ID: 7589909

Claim:
A rear-focusing type zoom lens comprising, in order from an object side: a positive first group that is fixed; a negative second group that moves toward an image plane along an optical axis during zooming from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end; a negative third group that is fixed in an optical axis direction; and a positive fourth group that moves along the optical axis direction to correct image plane variation, which is caused by the zooming, and to perform focusing, wherein the first group includes, in order from the object side, a first subgroup having a negative power as a whole and a second subgroup having a positive power as a whole, the first subgroup includes, in order from the object side, a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the object side and a negative lens, and the second subgroup includes, in order from the object side, a first positive lens group including at least one positive lens, a negative lens, a positive lens, and a second positive lens group including at least one positive lens.