A first group optical system having a positive refracting power, a second group
optical system having a negative refracting power, and a third group optical system
having a positive refracting power are sequentially arranged from an object side
toward an image side. At least the first group optical system and the third group
optical system move so that a distance between the first group optical system and
the second group optical system becomes minimum at short focal-length side, and
a distance between the second group optical system and the third group optical
system becomes minimum at long focal-length side. The third group optical system
includes a triplet lens formed with a negative lens, a positive lens, and a negative lens.