Compact zoom lens

A zoom lens comprising, in a sequence from an object side to an image side:

• a first lens group having a negative refractive power and comprising two lenses
• a second lens group having a positive refractive power;
• a stop disposed on the image side of the second lens group;
• and
• a third lens group having a positive refractive power,
• wherein:
• during zooming from a wide angle position to a telephoto position, an interval between the first lens group and the second lens group decreases, and an interval between the second lens group and the third lens group increases, and the zoom lens satisfies the following expressions;
• 4≦ft/fw≦6
• 3.0≦(D2t−D2w)/fw≦4.2
• where
• fw and ft denote an overall focal length at a wide angle position and an overall focal length at a telephoto position, respectively, and
• D2t and D2w denote a distance between a surface of the second lens group closest to the image side and a surface of the third lens group closest to the object side at the telephoto position and a distance between the surface of the second lens group closest to the image side and the surface of the third lens group closest to the object side at the wide angle position, respectively.