Patent ID: 8284497

Claim:
A zoom lens comprising, in order from an object: a first lens group having positive refractive power; a second lens group having negative refractive power, a third lens group having positive refractive power; and a fourth lens group having positive refractive power, a distance between the first lens group and the second lens group, a distance between the second lens group and the third lens group, and a distance between the third lens group and the fourth lens group changing respectively upon zooming from a wide-angle end state to a telephoto end state, the first lens group including, in order from the object, a negative lens and a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface facing the object, the second lens group including, in order from the object, a first negative lens, a second negative lens, and a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface facing the object, the fourth lens group including one positive lens, and the following conditional expressions being satisfied: 1.90<Nd11<2.50 1.90<Nda<2.50 1.86<Ndb<2.50 where Nd11 denotes a refractive index of the negative lens closest to the object in the first lens group, Nda denotes a refractive index of the lens closest to the abject out of at least two lenses in the second lens group, the third lens group and the fourth lens group, and Ndb denotes a refractive index of the lens closer to an image than the lens closest to the object out of the at least two lenses.