Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus using the same

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

a first lens group having a positive refractive power;

a second lens group having a negative refractive power;

a third lens group having a positive refractive power;

a fourth lens group having a positive refractive power;

a fifth lens group having a negative refractive power; and

a sixth lens group having a positive refractive power,

wherein:

during zooming from the wide angle end to the telephoto end, the first lens group, the third lens group, and the sixth lens group are fixed, the second lens group, the fourth lens group, and the fifth lens group move,

the first lens group comprises a reflecting optical element that bends the optical path,

the second lens group comprises, in order from the object side, a negative lens and a cemented lens made up of a negative lens and a positive lens,

the third lens group comprises an aperture stop,

the fourth lens group comprises, in order from the object side, a positive lens and a negative lens,

the fifth lens group comprises a negative lens, and

the zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expressions (1) and (2):

0.5≦ f 1/√( fw·ft )≦2.0  (1), and

1.0≦ pri/IH≦ 2.5  (2),

where f1 is the focal length of the first lens group, fw is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the wide angle end, ft is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the telephoto end, pri is the thickness of the reflecting optical element, and IH is the largest image height on the image plane.

2. A zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein the zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expressions (7) and (8):

0.5≦ f 2 — a/f 2≦3.0  (7), and

0.5≦ f 2 — b/f 2≦3.0  (8),

where f2 is the focal length of the second lens group, f2_a is the focal length of the negative lens located closest to the object side in the second lens group, and f2_b is the focal length of the negative lens located closest to the image side in the second lens group.

3. A zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein the third lens group comprises one positive lens located on the object side of the aperture stop, and the zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expression (3):

1.0≦ f 3/√( fw·ft )≦4.0  (3),

where f3 is the focal length of the third lens group, fw is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the wide angle end, and ft is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the telephoto end.

4. A zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein the positive lens in the fourth lens group is a bi-aspheric lens, and the zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expression (4):

0.5≦ f 4/√( fw·ft )≦2.0  (4),

where f4 is the focal length of the fourth lens group, fw is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the wide angle end, and ft is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the telephoto end.

5. A zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein the zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expression (5):

−2.0≦ f 4 — b √( fw·ft )≦−0.1  (5),

where f4_b is the focal length of negative lens in the fourth lens group, fw is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the wide angle end, and ft is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the telephoto end.

6. A zoom lens according to claim 1 , wherein the fifth lens group moves from the image side toward the object side during zooming from the wide angle end to the telephoto end, focusing is performed only by the fifth lens group, and the zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expression (6):

−2≦ f 5/√( fw·ft )≦−0.1  (6),

where f5 is the focal length of the fifth lens group, fw is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the wide angle end, and ft is the focal length of the entire zoom lens system at the telephoto end.

7. An image pickup apparatus comprising:

a zoom lens according to claim 1 ; and

an image pickup element.