Patent ID: 8411378

Claim:
A zoom lens comprising: a first lens unit having a negative refracting power disposed closest to the object side; and a second lens unit having a positive refracting power disposed on the image side of the first lens unit, wherein during zooming from the wide angle end to the telephoto end, a distance between the first lens unit and the second lens unit decreases, when a lens component is defined as a lens member whose refractive surfaces that are in contact with air in an optical path include only two surfaces or an object side surface and an image side surface, the second lens unit comprises a first cemented lens component made up of a plurality of lens elements having different refractive indices and different Abbe constants, and a second cemented lens component made up of a plurality of lens elements having different refractive indices and different Abbe constants disposed on the image side of the first cemented lens component, the zoom lens further comprises a third lens unit having a positive refracting power disposed on the image side of the second lens unit, and a fourth lens unit disposed on the image side of the third lens unit and having a lens surface that has different curvatures in a central portion and in a peripheral portion, and a distance between the second lens unit and the third lens unit and a distance between the third lens unit and the fourth lens unit change during zooming.