Patent ID: 8649107

Claim:
A zoom lens comprising: a first lens group that has negative refractive power; a diaphragm; a second lens group that has positive refractive power; a third lens group that has negative refractive power; and a fourth lens group that has positive refractive power, which are arranged in order from an object side, wherein the first lens group is configured by at least one negative lens and one positive lens, wherein the third lens group is configured by one negative lens, wherein, when power is changed from a wide angle end state to a telephoto end state, the first lens group, the second lens group, and the third lens group are moved in the direction of an optical axis, and the fourth lens group is fixed, wherein, when focusing is performed, the third lens group is moved in the direction of the optical axis so as to satisfy the following Conditional Equations (1) and (2), −2.8 <f 3 /fw<− 0.5 (1) 2.0 <f 4 /fw< 15.0 (2) wherein, f3 is a focal length of the third lens group, f4 is a focal length of the fourth lens group, and fw is a focal length of the whole zoom lens system at infinite focusing in the wide angle end state, wherein, the first lens group, the second lens group, the third lens group and the fourth lens group are arranged in this order from an object side to an image side, wherein the fourth lens group is disposed at a fixed position away from a reference image surface towards the object side and remains at the fixed position when the first lens group, the second lens group and the third lens group move away from the fourth lens group to transition the zoom lens from the wide angle end state to the telephoto end state, wherein the third lens group is operative to move towards the object side or towards the image side between the second lens group and the fourth lens group when the zoom lens is in the wide angle end state, the telephoto end state or anywhere therebetween, wherein the negative lens of the first lens group is configured by a negative meniscus lens that has a convex surface facing the object side, wherein the fourth lens group is configured by one positive meniscus lens that has a concave surface facing the object side and wherein the following Conditional Equations (3) and (4) are satisfied, nd 3<1.75 (3) ν d 3>40 (4) wherein, nd3 is a refractive index of the medium of the negative lens of the third lens group for the D line (wavelength 587.6 nm), and vd3 is the Abbe number of the medium of the negative lens of the third lens group for the D line (wavelength 587.6 nm).