Patent ID: 7453647

Claim:
In a group of zoom lenses that includes a first zoom lens and a second zoom lens, a zoom optical system used as a component in each of the first zoom lens and the second zoom lens and including lens groups common to the first zoom lens and the second zoom lens, and wherein: the first zoom lens and the second zoom lens each performs zooming from a wide-angle end state to a telephoto end state, and a first moving trajectory of the lens groups in the first zoom lens is different from a second moving trajectory of lens groups in the second zoom lens, and wherein: the lens groups of the first zoom lens consist of the zoom optical system alone; the lens groups of the second zoom lens include at least one lens group that is located at an object side of the zoom optical system in addition to the lens groups of the zoom optical system; and a distance between the at least one lens group and an adjacent lens group in the zoom optical system varies when the second zoom lens performs zooming from the wide-angle end state to the telephoto end state.