Patent ID: 7312931

Claim:
A zoom lens for zooming by moving a plurality of lens groups comprising, in order from an object side thereof along an optical axis: a first lens group having a positive refractive power whose position on the optical axis is fixed during a zooming operation and a focusing operation; a second lens group having a negative refractive power; a third lens group having a positive refractive power; a fourth lens group having a positive refractive power; a fifth lens group having a negative refractive power; and a sixth lens group having a positive refractive power, wherein the first lens group comprises a reflection optical element for bending an optical path by reflecting a light flux, at least the fifth lens group is used for focusing on an object at a finite distance, and the zoom lens satisfies: 0.05 < β MAX f W × f T < 0.14 where β MAX is a maximum lateral magnification of lens groups from a focusing lens group to an end lens group in the zoom lens under a condition that a focus of the zoom lens is adjusted to an object at infinity distance, between a wide-angle end and a telephoto end of the zoom lens, f W (mm) is a focal length of the zoom lens at the wide-angle end, and f T (mm) is a focal length of the zoom lens at the telephoto end.