The present application provides a micromechanical (MEMS) based zoom lens system, for use in miniature device applications, such as miniature electronic imaging devices. The MEMS-based zoom lens system comprises at least four optical elements, or two Alvarez or Lohmann lenses, that are configured for passage of optical signals therethrough along an optical signal path. Each optical element is MEMS-driven and displaceable in a direction substantially transverse to the optical signal path. In use, the transverse displacement of the optical elements vary an overall focal length of the MEMS zoom lens system such as to provide an optical zoom function. A method of manufacturing a MEMS zoom lens system is also provided in a further aspect.

A zoom lens includes a first lens group with a negative refractive power, a second lens group with a positive refractive power, and an aperture stop disposed in and movable with the second lens group. Each of the first lens group and the second lens group moves individually. The zoom lens further includes a doublet lens disposed on a first side of the aperture stop and between the first lens group and the aperture stop, and at most two lenses including at least one aspheric lens are disposed on a second side of the aperture stop.

Provided is an optical system including, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit and a second lens unit with a positive refractive power. One of lenses of the first lens unit is the closest to the object side and has a negative refractive power. The second lens unit includes an aperture diaphragm. One of lenses that is included in the second lens unit, located on the object side or the image side of the aperture diaphragm and the closest to the aperture diaphragm has a concave lens surface that faces the aperture diaphragm. Conditions are satisfied whose values are set by using refractive indexes of a negative lens and a positive lens of the first lens unit that respectively have the smallest Abbe number.

A zoom lens includes a front unit having a negative refractive power; and a rear unit having a positive refractive power, which includes an aperture stop. The front unit includes a first negative refractive power lens, a second negative refractive power lens, and a third positive refractive power lens. The first lens is nearest to an object, and has a meniscus shape with a convex surface directed toward the object side, and the second lens is on an image side of the first lens, and has a meniscus shape with a convex surface directed toward the object side. The rear unit includes a first lens unit A and a second lens unit B, wherein when zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end, a distance between the front unit and the rear unit narrows, and a distance between the first lens unit A and the second lens unit B changes. The first lens unit A includes a first sub-lens unit having a positive refractive power, the aperture stop, and a second sub-lens unit. The second sub-lens unit includes a focusing lens unit, and when focusing, only the focusing lens unit moves along an optical axis, and when zooming, a distance between the first sub-lens unit and the second sub-lens unit changes.

A camera head is provided that includes a first lens group, including at least one deformable lens with variable curvature, a second lens group moveable relative to the first lens group, and an image sensor for capturing a light beam received from an endoscope, wherein the first lens group is fixed relative to the image sensor and the aperture of the first lens group is smaller than the aperture of the second lens group. A method is also provided for capturing of an image utilizing a zoom system including a variable power first lens group and a movable second lens group.

An optical lens includes a first lens group with negative refractive power, a second lens group with positive refractive power, and an aperture stop disposed between the first lens group and the second lens group. A total number of lenses in the first lens group is less than three, and a total number of lenses in the second lens group is less than five. The second lens group includes a first lens, a second lens and a third lens arranged in order in a direction away from the aperture stop. Each of the first lens and the second lens is an aspheric lens, and one of the first lens and the second lens has a diffractive optical surface.

A zoom lens includes, in order from a magnified side to a minified side, a first lens group, an aperture stop, and a second lens group. The second lens group has at least one aspheric surface. The zoom lens satisfies the conditions: 0.1<Ic/TTLw<0.15 and TTLw/EFLw10, where Ic denotes a radius of an image circle, TTLw denotes a total track length of the zoom lens in the wide configuration, and EFLw denotes an effective focal length of the zoom lens in the wide configuration.

A zoom lens includes a front unit having a negative refractive power and a rear unit having a positive refractive power, which includes an aperture stop, and the front unit includes a first lens having a negative refractive power, and the first lens has a meniscus shape of which a convex surface is directed toward the object side, and the rear unit includes a first lens unit A and a second lens unit B, and at the time of zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end, a distance between the front unit and the rear unit changes.

A variable power optical system (ZL (1)) includes a plurality of lens groups (G1-G7). During variable magnification, an interval between adjacent lens groups changes. The plurality of lens groups include: a first focusing lens group (G5) that moves during focusing; and a second focusing lens group (G6) that is disposed more toward an imaging surface side than the first focusing lens group and that moves along a different trajectory than the first focusing lens group during focusing. The first focusing lens group and the second focusing lens group both have a negative refractive power. The plurality of lens groups satisfy the following condition: 0.40<fF1/fF2<3.50 (wherein fF1 is the focal distance of the first focusing lens group, and fF2 is the focal distance of the second focusing lens group).

An optoelectronic device is provided for an optical instrument. The device includes both an image sensor and a zoom system disposed along a common optical path. The zoom system includes a plurality of lens groups for imaging an optical image from the optical instrument. The plurality includes, in relative order along the common optical path, a first lens group and a second lens group. The first lens group includes at least one deformable lens with a variable curvature and is fixed relative to the image sensor. The second lens group is optically arranged between the first lens group and the image sensor and is adapted to move relative to the first lens group in a direction substantially coaxial with at least a portion of the common optical path.