Zoom lens, optical apparatus and method for manufacturing the zoom lens

A zoom lens comprising, in order from an object:

• a first lens group having positive refractive power;
• a second lens group having negative refractive power;
• a third lens group having positive refractive power;
• a fourth lens group having negative refractive power;
• and a fifth lens group having positive refractive power, wherein
• the first to the fifth lens groups each move in an optical axis direction upon zooming from a wide angle end state to a telephoto end state,
• the third lens group comprises two single lenses disposed closest to the object in the third lens group,
• at least a part of the fourth lens group is configured to serve as a focusing lens group to move in the optical axis direction upon focusing, and
• following conditional expressions are satisfied:
• 1.10<f1/ft<2.30
• 1.000<(ft/fw)/FNw<2.000
• 0.35<GD3/ft<0.80
• where,
• f1 denotes a focal length of the first lens group,
• ft denotes a focal length of the zoom lens in the telephoto end state,
• fw denotes a focal length of the zoom lens in the wide angle end state,
• FNw denotes the maximum aperture in the wide angle end state, and
• GD3 denotes a thickness of the third lens group on the optical axis.

A method for manufacturing a zoom lens including, in order from an object:

• a first lens group having positive refractive power;
• a second lens group having negative refractive power;
• a third lens group having positive refractive power;
• and a fourth lens group having negative refractive power;
• the method comprising:
• arranging the third lens group so that the third lens group comprises two single lenses disposed closest to the object in the third lens group,
• arranging the first to the fourth lens groups so that at least a part of the fourth lens group is configured to serve as a focusing lens group to move in the optical axis direction upon focusing,
• the method further comprising one of the following features A or B, wherein
• the feature A comprising:
• respective distances between the first to the fourth lens groups in an optical axis direction vary upon zooming from a wide angle end state to a telephoto end state,
• the fourth lens group comprises a single lens having negative refractive power, and
• following conditional expressions are satisfied:
• 1.10<f1/ft<2.30
• 1.400<(ft/fw)/FNw<1.900
• where
• f1 denotes a focal length of the first lens group,
• ft denotes a focal length of the zoom lens in the telephoto end state,
• fw denotes a focal length of the zoom lens in the wide angle end state, and
• FNw denotes the maximum aperture in the wide angle end state, and
• the feature B comprising:
• the zoom lens further comprising a fifth lens group having positive refractive power, which is placed next to the fourth lens group on an image side,
• the first to the fifth lens groups each move in an optical axis direction upon zooming from a wide angle end state to a telephoto end state, and
• following conditional expressions are satisfied:
• 1.10<f1/ft<2.30
• 1.000<(ft/fw)/FNw<2.000
• 0.35<GD3/ft<0.80
• where
• f1 denotes a focal length of the first lens group,
• ft denotes a focal length of the zoom lens in the telephoto end state,
• fw denotes a focal length of the zoom lens in the wide angle end state,
• FNw denotes the maximum aperture in the wide angle end state, and
• GD3 denotes a thickness of the third lens group on the optical axis.