A compact wide converter lens having a small front-lens diameter. When attached to an object side of a main lens system, the wide converter lens provides reduced degradation of aberrations to achieve high optical performance. The wide converter lens includes a first negative lens element disposed most proximate to the object side and whose object-side surface is concave, a second positive lens element disposed at an image side of the first lens element, and a third negative lens element disposed at an image side of the second lens element. The following conditions are satisfied: 1.0<(r1-r2)/(r1+r2)<2.0 -40