Telephoto lens and image pickup apparatus using the same

1. A telephoto lens comprising lens units consisting of, in order from an object side:

a first lens unit having a positive refractive power;

a second lens unit having a negative refractive power; and

a third lens unit,

wherein:

the first lens unit consists of, in order from the object side, a front-side lens unit having a positive refractive power and a rear-side lens unit,

at a time of focusing, the second lens unit moves,

the third lens unit has a positive lens and a negative lens,

the first lens unit has one or a plurality of negative lens elements which satisfies following Conditional Expression (a),

the rear-side lens unit comprises a predetermined negative lens element that is closest to the object side from among lens elements in the rear-side lens unit, and that is closest to the object side from among the one or plurality of negative lens elements of the first lens unit,

lens elements of the front-side lens unit which are positioned closer to the object side than the predetermined negative lens element include a plurality of positive lens elements,

the rear-side lens unit has the predetermined negative lens element and a positive lens element, and

following Conditional Expressions (1A) and (14) are satisfied:

0.5 ≤|f/fLn|≤ 4.908  (a),

0.015 ≤DGFGR/f≤ 0.25  (1A),

and

0.19 ≤DGF airmax/ DGF≤ 1.0  (14),

where,

f is a focal length of the telephoto lens at a time of focusing on an infinite object;

fLn is a focal length of the predetermined negative lens element;

DGFGR is an axial air space between the front-side lens unit and the rear-side lens unit;

DGFairmax is a largest axial air space, of axial air spaces in the front-side lens unit; and

DGF is an axial thickness of the front-side lens unit.

2. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein the rear-side lens unit has a first rear-side lens unit and a second rear-side lens unit.

3. The telephoto lens according to claim 2 , wherein the first rear-side lens unit has a negative refractive power.

4. The telephoto lens according to claim 3 , wherein the second rear-side lens unit has a positive refractive power.

5. The telephoto lens according to claim 2 , wherein following Conditional Expression (5) is satisfied:

0.02 ≤DGR 1 GR 2 /f≤ 0.3  (5),

where,

DGR1GR2 is an axial air space between the first rear-side lens unit and the second rear-side lens unit; and

f is the focal length of the telephoto lens at the time of focusing on an infinite object.

6. The telephoto lens according to claim 2 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (8) is satisfied:

−3.0 ≤fGF/fGR 1≤0.1  (8),

where,

fGF is a focal length of the front-side lens unit; and

fGR1 is a focal length of the first rear-side lens unit.

7. The telephoto lens according to claim 2 , wherein the first rear-side lens unit has at least two negative lens elements.

8. The telephoto lens according to claim 2 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (17) is satisfied:

1.5 ≤|fG 1 /fG 2|≤6.5  (17),

where,

fG1 is a focal length of the first lens unit; and

fG2 is a focal length of the second lens unit.

9. The telephoto lens according to claim 2 , wherein only the second lens unit moves in an optical axis direction.

10. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein following Conditional Expression (2A) is satisfied:

0.10 ≤ΔGFGR/f≤ 0.5  (2A)

where

ΔGFGR is an axial air space from an object-side surface in the front-side lens unit to an object-side surface in the rear-side lens unit; and

f is the focal length of the telephoto lens at the time of focusing on an infinite object.

11. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (3) is satisfied:

72≤vdGFave≤82.445  (3),

where,

vdGFave is an average Abbe number of the positive lens elements in the front-side lens unit.

12. The telephoto lens according to claim 11 , wherein following Conditional Expression (3-2) is satisfied:

77≤vdGFave≤82.445  (3-2),

where,

vdGFave is the average Abbe number of the positive lens elements in the front-side lens unit.

13. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein following Conditional Expression (4) is satisfied:

84≤vdGFmax≤94.66  (4),

where,

vdGFmax is a largest Abbe number, of Abbe numbers of the positive lens elements in the front-side lens unit.

14. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (6) is satisfied:

0.2 ≤fGF/f≤ 0.8  (6),

where,

fGF is a focal length of the front-side lens unit; and

f is the focal length of the telephoto lens at the time of focusing on an infinite object.

15. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

a first lens element is disposed closest to the object side, and

following Conditional Expression (7) is satisfied:

1.6 ≤fL 1 /fGF≤ 5.0  (7),

where,

fL 1 is a focal length of the first lens element; and

fGF is a focal length of the front-side lens unit.

16. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein following Conditional Expression (9) is satisfied:

0.06 ≤|fG 2 /f|≤ 0.25  (9),

where,

fG2 is a focal length of the second lens unit; and

f is the focal length of the telephoto lens at the time of focusing on an infinite object.

17. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (10) is satisfied:

3.5 ≤|MGG 2 B 2 ×( MGG 2 2 −1)|≤6.5  (10),

where,

MGG2B is a lateral magnification of a first rear-side lens system;

MGG2 is a lateral magnification of the second lens unit;

the lateral magnification is a lateral magnification at the time of focusing on an infinite object; and

the first rear-side lens system is a lens system comprising all of lenses of the third lens unit, which are positioned closer to an image side than the second lens unit.

18. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein the second lens unit includes a total of two or less lens elements.

19. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein the second lens unit consists of a lens element having a positive refractive power and a lens element having a negative refractive power.

20. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the second lens unit has a plastic lens element having a positive refractive power and a plastic lens element having a negative refractive power, and

following Conditional Expression (11) is satisfied:

−0.6 ≤fPLn/fPLp≤− 0.15  (11),

where,

fPLn is a focal length of the plastic lens element having a negative refractive power; and

fPLp is a focal length of the plastic lens element having a positive refractive power.

21. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the second lens unit has a plastic lens element having a positive refractive power and a glass lens element having a negative refractive power,

the plastic lens element and the glass lens element are integrally molded, and

following Conditional Expression (12) is satisfied:

0.2 ≤|fG 2 /fPLp|≤ 0.7  (12),

where,

fG2 is a focal length of the second lens unit; and

fPLp is a focal length of the plastic lens element having a positive refractive power.

22. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the third lens unit has a camera shake-correction lens unit, and

the camera shake-correction lens unit moves in a direction vertical to an optical axis.

23. The telephoto lens according to claim 22 , wherein

the third lens unit has a sub-lens unit on the object side, and

the sub-lens unit has a refractive power with a sign different from that of the camera shake-correction lens unit.

24. The telephoto lens according to claim 22 , wherein

the third lens unit has a sub-lens unit on an image side, and

the sub-lens unit has a refractive power with a sign different from that of the camera shake-correction lens unit.

25. The telephoto lens according to claim 22 , wherein

the third lens unit has an object-side sub-lens unit and an image-side sub-lens unit on the object side and on an image side, respectively, and

the object-side sub-lens unit and the image-side sub-lens unit both have a refractive power with a sign different from that of the camera shake-correction lens unit.

26. The telephoto lens according to claim 22 , wherein

the camera shake-correction lens unit at least has a first correction lens element, a second correction lens element, and a third correction lens element,

the first correction lens element and the second correction lens element have a refractive power with a same sign as the camera shake-correction lens unit, and

the third correction lens element has a refractive power with a sign different from that of the camera shake-correction lens unit.

27. The telephoto lens according to claim 22 , wherein the camera shake-correction lens unit has a negative refractive power.

28. The telephoto lens according to claim 22 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (13) is satisfied:

1.0 <|MGISB ×( MGIS− 1)|<4.0  (13),

where,

MGISB is a lateral magnification of a second rear-side lens system;

MGIS is a lateral magnification of the camera shake-correction lens unit;

the lateral magnification is a lateral magnification at the time of focusing on an infinite object; and

the second rear-side lens system is a lens system comprising all of lenses positioned closer to an image side than the camera shake-correction lens unit.

29. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

the third lens unit has

an object-side sub-lens unit having a positive refractive power,

a camera shake-correction lens unit having a negative refractive power, and

an image-side sub-lens unit having a positive refractive power.

30. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , further comprising an aperture stop which is disposed between the first lens unit and the second lens unit.

31. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein the third lens unit has a plurality of lens elements and an optical filter disposed between the plurality of lens elements.

32. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (15A) is satisfied:

0.05 ≤DGFGR/fGF≤ 0.4  (15A),

where,

DGFGR is an axial air space between the front-side lens unit and the rear-side lens unit; and

fGF is a focal length of the front-side lens unit.

33. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (16) is satisfied:

50≤vdLp1≤70.23  (16),

where,

vdLp1 is an Abbe number of a positive lens element positioned closest to the object side.

34. The telephoto lens according to claim 1 , wherein the front-side lens unit consists of two positive lens elements.

35. An image pickup apparatus comprising:

an optical system; and

an image pickup element having an image plane and converting an image formed on the image plane by the optical system to an electrical signal,

wherein the optical system is the telephoto lens according to claim 1 .

36. A telephoto lens comprising lens units consisting of, in order from an object side:

a first lens unit having a positive refractive power;

a second lens unit having a negative refractive power; and

a third lens unit,

wherein:

the first lens unit consists of, in order from the object side, a front-side lens unit having a positive refractive power, a first rear-side lens unit, and a second rear-side lens unit,

at a time of focusing, the second lens unit moves,

the third lens unit has a positive lens element and a negative lens element,

the first lens unit has one or a plurality of negative lens elements which satisfies following Conditional Expression (a),

the first rear-side lens unit comprises a predetermined negative lens element that is closest to the object side from among lens elements in the first rear-side lens unit, and that is closest to the object side from among the one or plurality of negative lens elements of the first lens unit,

lens elements of the front-side lens unit which are positioned closer to the object side than the predetermined negative lens element include a plurality of positive lens elements,

the first rear-side lens unit has the predetermined negative lens element and a positive lens element,

the second rear-side lens unit has a positive lens element, and

following Conditional Expressions (2B) and (16) are satisfied:

0.5. ≤|f/fLn| 4.908  (a),

0.10 ≤ΔGFGR 1 /f≤ 0.5  (2B),

and

50≤vdLp1≤70.23  (16),

where,

f is a focal length of the telephoto lens at a time of focusing on an infinite object;

fLn is a focal length of the predetermined negative lens element;

ΔGFGR1 is an axial air space from an object-side surface in the front-side lens unit to an object-side surface in the first rear-side lens unit; and

vdLp1 is an Abbe number of a positive lens positioned closest to the object side.

37. The telephoto lens according to claim 36 , wherein following Conditional Expression (1B) is satisfied:

0.015 ≤DGFGR 1 /f≤ 0.25  (1B)

where

DGFGR1 is an axial air space between the front-side lens unit and the first rear-side lens unit; and

f is the focal length of the telephoto lens at the time of focusing on an infinite object.

38. The telephoto lens according to claim 36 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (14) is satisfied:

0.19 ≤DGF airmax/ DGF≤ 1.0  (14),

where,

DGFairmax is a largest axial air space, of axial air spaces in the front-side lens unit; and

DGF is an axial thickness of the front-side lens unit.

39. The telephoto lens according to claim 36 , wherein

following Conditional Expression (15B) is satisfied:

0.05 ≤DGFGR 1 /fGF≤ 0.4  (15B),

where,

DGFGR1 is an axial air space between the front-side lens unit and the first rear-side lens unit; and

fGF is a focal length of the front-side lens unit.

40. A telephoto lens comprising lens units consisting of, in order from an object side:

a first lens unit having a positive refractive power;

a second lens unit having a negative refractive power; and

a third lens unit,

wherein:

the first lens unit consists of, in order from the object side, a front-side lens unit having a positive refractive power, a first rear-side lens unit, and a second rear-side lens unit,

at a time of focusing, the second lens unit moves,

the third lens unit has a positive lens element and a negative lens element,

the first lens unit has one or a plurality of negative lens elements which satisfies following Conditional Expression (a),

the first rear-side lens unit comprises a predetermined negative lens element that is closest to the object side from among lens elements in the first rear-side lens unit, and that is closest to the object side from among the one or plurality of negative lens elements of the first lens unit,

a lens element of the front-side lens unit which is positioned closer to the object side than the predetermined negative lens element includes at least one positive lens element,

the first rear-side lens unit has the predetermined negative lens element and a positive lens element,

the second rear-side lens unit has a positive lens element, and

following Conditional Expressions (2B) and (3) are satisfied:

0.5 ≤|f/fLn|≤ 4.908  (a),

0.10 ≤ΔGFGR 1 /f≤ 0.5  (2B),

and

72≤vdGFave≤82.445  (3),

where,

f is a focal length of the telephoto lens at a time of focusing on an infinite object;

fLn is a focal length of the predetermined negative lens element;

ΔGFGR1 is an axial air space from an object-side surface in the front-side lens unit to an object-side surface in the first rear-side lens unit; and

vdGFave is an average Abbe number of the at least one positive lens element in the front-side lens unit.

41. The telephoto lens according to claim 40 , wherein the front-side lens unit has a plurality of the positive lens elements.