Imaging lens and imaging apparatus equipped with the imaging lens

1. An imaging lens consisting essentially of six lenses, including:

a first lens having a negative refractive power and a concave surface toward the object side;

a second lens having a positive refractive power;

a third lens having a negative refractive power;

a fourth lens having a negative refractive power and is of a meniscus shape with a concave surface toward the object side;

a fifth lens; and

a sixth lens having a concave surface toward the image side, the surface toward the image side thereof being an aspherical shape having at least one inflection point thereon, provided in this order from the object side; and

an aperture stop positioned at the object side of the surface of the third lens toward the object side.

2. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 , wherein:

the first lens is of a meniscus shape having a concave surface toward the object side.

3. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

−1<( R 1 f−R 1 r )/( R 1 f+R 1 r )<0  (1)

wherein R1f is the paraxial radius of curvature of the surface of the first lens toward the object side and R1r is the paraxial radius of curvature of the surface of the first lens toward the image side.

4. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

1< f/f 2<3  (2)

wherein f is the focal length of the entire system and f2 is the focal length of the second lens.

5. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

0< f 3/ f 1<0.5  (3)

wherein f3 is the focal length of the third lens, and f1 is the focal length of the first lens.

6. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

0< f 3/ f 4<1.2  (4)

wherein f3 is the focal length of the third lens and f4 is the focal length of the fourth lens.

7. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

1< f/R 6 r< 4  (5)

wherein f is the focal length of the entire system and R6r is the paraxial radius of curvature of the surface of the sixth lens toward the image side.

8. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

−0.5<( R 4 f−R 4 r )/( R 4 f+R 4 r )<0  (6)

wherein R4f is the paraxial radius of curvature of the surface of the fourth lens toward the object side and R4r is the paraxial radius of curvature of the surface of the fourth lens toward the image side.

9. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

40<ν d 1  (7)

wherein νd1 is the Abbe's number of the first lens with respect to the d line.

10. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

1.0< TTL/f< 3.0  (8)

wherein TTL is the distance from the surface of the first lens toward the object side to the imaging surface along the optical axis (the portion of the distance corresponding to the back focus is an air converted length) and f is the focal length of the entire system.

11. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

4.0< TTL< 6.0  (9)

wherein TTL (mm) is the distance from the surface of the first lens toward the object side to the imaging surface along the optical axis (the portion of the distance corresponding to the back focus is an air converted length).

12. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

0.28< BFL/f< 0.42  (10)

wherein BFL is the distance from the apex of the surface of the sixth lens toward the image side to the imaging surface (an air converted length), and f is the focal length of the entire system.

13. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

0.75< BFL< 1.2  (11)

wherein BFL (mm) is the distance from the apex of the surface of the sixth lens toward the image side to the imaging surface (an air converted length).

14. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

−0.5<( R 1 f−R 1 r )/( R 1 f+R 1 r )<−0.05  (1-1)

wherein R1f is the paraxial radius of curvature of the surface of the first lens toward the object side and R1r is the paraxial radius of curvature of the surface of the first lens toward the image side.

15. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

1.3< f/f 2<2.5  (2-1)

wherein f is the focal length of the entire system and f2 is the focal length of the second lens.

16. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

0< f 3/ f 1<0.3  (3-1)

wherein f3 is the focal length of the third lens and f1 is the focal length of the first lens.

17. The imaging lens as defined in claim 1 that further satisfies the conditional formula below:

0 <f 3 /f 4<0.8  (4-1)

wherein f3 is the focal length of the third lens and f4 is the focal length of the fourth lens.

18. An imaging apparatus equipped with the lens defined in claim 1 .

19. An imaging lens consisting essentially of six lenses, including:

a first lens having a negative refractive power and a concave surface toward the object side;

a second lens having a positive refractive power;

a third lens having a negative refractive power;

a fourth lens having a negative refractive power and is of a meniscus shape with a concave surface toward the object side;

a fifth lens; and

a sixth lens having a concave surface toward the image side, the surface toward the image side thereof being an aspherical shape having at least one inflection point thereon, provided in this order from the object side; and

an aperture stop is positioned at the object side of the surface of the second lens toward the object side.