IP Library Granted Patent US 9,213,171
Granted Patent B2
US 9,213,171 · App. 14/323,686 · Granted Dec 15, 2015

Zoom lens having optical path bending member and image pickup apparatus equipped with same

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,213,171
App. No.
14/323,686
Granted
Dec 15, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

A zoom lens includes, in order from the object side to the image side, a first lens unit having a negative refractive power, a second lens unit having a positive refractive power, and a third lens unit including a lens. The distance between the first lens unit and the second lens unit is smaller at the telephoto end than at the wide angle end, and the distance between the second lens unit and the third lens unit changes during zooming from the wide angle end to the telephoto end. The first lens unit consists, in order from the object side, of a front sub lens unit having a negative refractive power, an optical path bending member, and a rear sub lens unit having a positive refractive power. The front sub lens unit includes a biconcave single lens, and the rear sub lens unit includes one or two single lenses.

Claims (61)

1. A zoom lens comprising, in order from the object side to the image side:

a first lens unit having a negative refractive power;

a second lens unit having a positive refractive power;

a third lens unit having a positive refractive power; and

a fourth lens unit comprising a lens component, wherein

the distance between the first lens unit and the second lens unit is smaller at the telephoto end than at the wide angle end,

the distance between the second lens unit and the third lens unit is larger at the telephoto end than at the wide angle end,

the distance between the third lens unit and the fourth lens unit is smaller at the telephoto end than at the wide angle end,

the first lens unit comprises an optical path bending member,

the third lens unit comprises a lens component having a positive refractive power,

the total number of lens components in the third lens unit is one,

the zoom lens is a four-unit zoom lens, and

the zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expressions (19), (20), and (21):

1.3<β 2T /β 2w <3.8  (19),

1.1<β 3T /β 3w |<4.0  (20),

and

−0.23< f w / f 4G <0.23  (21),

where β 2T is the lateral magnification of the second lens unit at the telephoto end, β 2w is the lateral magnification of the second lens unit at the wide angle end, β 3T is the lateral magnification of the third lens unit at the telephoto end, β 3w is the lateral magnification of the third lens unit at the wide angle end, f 4G is the focal length of the fourth lens unit, f w is the focal length of the entire four-unit zoom lens at the wide angle end, and the lens component refers to a lens member whose effective surfaces that are in contact with air include only two surfaces, one being an object side surface and the other being an image side surface.

2. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein the second lens unit and the third lens unit satisfy at least one of the following conditional expressions (22) and (23):

0.2< f 2G / f T <0.85  (22),

and

0.1< f 3G / f T <1.5  (23),

where f 2G is the focal length of the second lens unit, f 3G is the focal length of the third lens unit, and f T is the focal length of the entire four-unit zoom lens system at the telephoto end.

3. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein the total number of lens components in the fourth lens unit is one.

4. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein the object side surface of the fourth lens unit is a concave surface, and

the image side surface of the fourth lens unit is a convex surface.

5. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein the fourth lens unit satisfies the following conditional expression (24):

0.000001< D 4 /| f 4G |<0.07  (24),

where D 4 is the thickness of the fourth lens unit on the optical axis.

6. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein the fourth lens unit has an aspheric surface.

7. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein all the lens components in the fourth lens unit are single lenses.

8. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein the fourth lens unit is fixed on the optical axis relative to an image pickup surface during zooming from the wide angle end to the telephoto end.

9. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein the lens component in the third lens unit is a single lens.

10. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein the total number of positive lenses in the second lens unit is two or less, and

the total number of negative lenses in the second lens unit is one or zero.

11. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the first lens unit consists, in order from the object side, of a front sub lens unit having a negative refractive power, an optical path bending member, and a rear sub lens unit having a positive refractive power,

the front sub lens unit comprises a biconcave single lens,

the rear sub lens unit comprises a positive single lens,

the total number of lenses in the front sub lens unit is one,

the total number of lenses in the rear sub lens unit is two or less, and

the total number of positive lenses in the rear sub lens unit is one.

12. An image pickup apparatus comprising:

a zoom lens according to claim 1 ;

an image pickup element disposed on the image side of the zoom lens; and

an image processing section that processes a signal output from the image pickup element.

13. The zoom lens according to claim 1 ,

wherein the lens component in the third lens unit has a biconvex shape.

14. The zoom lens according to claim 13 ,

wherein the lens component in the third lens unit satisfies the following conditional expression (25):

0.01<( r 3O + r 3I )/( r 3O - r 3I )<0.4  (25),

where r 3O is the paraxial radius of curvature of the object side surface of the lens component in the third lens unit, and r 3I is the paraxial radius of curvature of the image side surface of the lens component in the third lens unit.

Assignments (4)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 7, 2021
From: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
To: OM DIGITAL SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 058329/0766 →
CHANGE OF ADDRESS Recorded Jun 27, 2016
From: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
To: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 039344/0502 →
MERGER Recorded Aug 5, 2015
From: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
To: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 036279/0239 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 3, 2014
From: KATAYOSE, MASATO; ONO, KENJI; HAYAKAWA, KAZUHITO
To: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
Reel/Frame 033241/0585 →