Patent 7251080 was granted and assigned to Pentax on July, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A zoom lens system includes a negative first lens group, a diaphragm, and a positive second lens group, in this order from the object. Zooming is performed by moving the negative first lens group and the positive second lens group along an optical axis of the zoom lens system. The negative first lens group includes a negative first lens element, a negative second lens element, and a positive third lens element, in this order from the object.