IP Library Granted Patent US 9,513,469
Granted Patent B2
US 9,513,469 · App. 14/582,083 · Granted Dec 6, 2016

Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus using the same

Inventors: Akinori Nishio (Tokyo, JP); Masahiro Imamura (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: Olympus Corporation
G02B13/009G02B15/14G02B15/173H04N5/23296
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,513,469
App. No.
14/582,083
Granted
Dec 6, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

A zoom lens comprises a first lens unit G 1 having a positive refractive power, a second lens unit G 2 having a negative refractive power, and a plurality of lens units G 3 and G 4. Zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end is carried out by changing a distance between the lens units. One of the first lens unit G 1 and the second lens unit G 2 has, or both the first lens unit G 1 and the second lens unit G 2 have a specific arrangement.

Claims (103)

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

a first lens unit having a positive refractive power;

a second lens unit having a negative refractive power;

a third lens unit having a positive refractive power; and

a fourth lens unit having a positive refractive power, wherein

zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end is carried out by changing each distance between the lens units, and

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

the first lens unit comprises in order from the object side to the image side,

a negative lens and a positive lens, and

the total number of lenses in the first lens unit is two, and

the third lens unit comprises,

a positive lens component having a positive refractive power, which is a lens component positioned nearest to the object side in the third lens unit, and

a negative lens component having a negative refractive power, which is a lens component positioned nearest to the image side in the third lens unit, and

the positive lens component and the negative lens component form a lens block having only two surfaces which make a contact with air in an optical path, namely an object-side surface and an image-side surface, and

the following conditional expressions (11), (12), and (13) are satisfied:

2.5< f 1 p/f 3 p   (11)

−3.4< f 1× f 2/ f 3 2 <−2.4  (12)

−0.3< h 3 f/f 3<−0.14  (13)

where,

f1p denotes a focal length of the positive lens in the first lens unit,

f3p denotes a focal length of the positive lens component in the third lens unit,

f1 denotes a focal length of the first lens unit,

f2 denotes a focal length of the second lens unit,

f3 denotes a focal length of the third lens unit, and

h3f denotes an optical axial distance from a surface of incidence of the third lens unit up to a principal point of the third lens unit, and has a negative (minus) sign when the principal point is on the object side of the surface of incidence, and has a positive (plus) sign when the principal point is on the image side of the surface of incidence.

2. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the following conditional expression (14) is satisfied:

2<( R 1obj+ R 1 n img)/( R 1obj− R 1 n img)<7  (14)

where,

R1obj denotes a paraxial radius of curvature of an object-side surface of the first lens unit, and

R1nimg denotes a paraxial radius of curvature of an image-side surface of the negative lens in the first lens unit.

3. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the following conditional expression (15) is satisfied:

−1.0<( R 1obj+ R 1img)/( R 1obj− R 1img)<0.0  (15)

where,

R1obj denotes the paraxial radius of curvature of the object-side surface of the first lens unit, and

R1img denotes a paraxial radius of curvature of an image-side surface of the first lens unit.

4. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the following conditional expression (16) is satisfied:

−1.1<( R 1 p obj+ R 1img)/( R 1 p obj− R 1img)<−0.5  (16)

where,

R1pobj denotes a paraxial radius of curvature of an object-side surface of the positive lens in the first lens unit, and

R1img denotes the paraxial radius of curvature of an image-side surface of the first lens unit.

5. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the following conditional expression (17) is satisfied:

−0.9<( R 3obj+ R 3 p img)/( R 3obj− R 3 p img)<−0.5  (17)

where,

R3obj denotes a paraxial radius of curvature of an object-side surface of the third lens unit, and

R3pimg denotes a paraxial radius of curvature of an image-side surface of the positive lens component the lens unit.

6. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the following conditional expression (18) is satisfied:

1.5<( R 3 n obj+ R 3img)/( R 3 n obj− R 3img)<6  (18)

where,

R3nobj denotes a paraxial radius of curvature of an object-side surface of the negative lens component in the third lens unit, and

R3img denotes the paraxial radius of curvature of the image-side surface of the third lens unit.

7. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the object-side surface of the third lens unit is convex toward the object side, and the image-side surface of the third lens unit is concave toward the image side, and

the following conditional expression (19) is satisfied:

0.7< R 3obj/ R 3img<1.5  (19)

where,

R3obj denotes the paraxial radius of curvature of the object-side surface of the third lens unit, and

R3img denotes the paraxial radius of curvature of the image-side surface of the third lens unit.

8. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

both the object-side surface and the image-side surface of the third lens unit are aspheric surfaces.

9. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the negative lens component in the third lens unit is a negative lens, and

the following conditional expression (20) is satisfied:

1.63< n 3 n   (20)

where,

n3n denotes a refractive index with reference to a d-line of the negative lens in the third lens unit.

10. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the total number of lens components in the third lens unit is two.

11. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the total number of lenses in the third lens unit is two.

12. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

following conditional expression (2)

n 1 n< 1.7  (2)

where,

n1n denotes a refractive index with reference to a d-line of the negative lens in the first lens unit.

13. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the following conditional expression (3) is satisfied:

20<|ν n 1−ν1 p|< 60  (3)

where,

ν1n denotes Abbe number with reference to the d-line of the negative lens in the first lens unit,

ν1p denotes Abbe number with reference to the d-line of the positive lens in the first lens unit, and

ν1n<ν1p.

14. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the following conditional expression (8) is satisfied:

2.0<β3 t/β 3 w   (8)

where,

β3t denotes a lateral magnification at the telephoto end of the third lens unit, and

β3w denotes a lateral magnification at the wide angle end of the third lens unit.

15. The zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the following conditional expression (9) is satisfied:

0.5<(β3 t/β 3 w )/(β2 t/β 2 w )<1.3  (9)

where,

β3t denotes the lateral magnification at the telephoto end of the third lens unit,

β3w denotes the lateral magnification at the telephoto end of the third lens unit,

β2t denotes a lateral magnification at the telephoto end of the second lens unit, and

β2w denotes a lateral magnification at the wide angle end of the second lens unit.

16. An image pickup apparatus comprising:

a zoom lens according to claim 1 ; and

an image pickup element which is disposed on an image side of the zoom lens, and which has an image pickup surface which picks up an image formed by the zoom lens, and which converts the image picked up to an electric signal.

Assignments (3)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 7, 2021
From: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
To: OM DIGITAL SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 058329/0766 →
MERGER Recorded Aug 5, 2015
From: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
To: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 036279/0239 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 23, 2014
From: NISHIO, AKINORI; IMAMURA, MASAHIRO
To: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
Reel/Frame 034581/0431 →
Priority Claims (2)
JP 2012-035705 · Feb 22, 2012 · national
JP 2012-140444 · Jun 22, 2012 · national
Continuity (2)
Division 13747194 · Jan 22, 2013
Related Publication 20150130970A1 · May 14, 2015