A zoom lens including a front group and a rear group, wherein a lens group arranged on an object side of a widest air interval at a wide-angle end is defined as the front group and a lens group arranged on an image side of the widest air interval at the wide-angle end is defined as the rear group, the front group having a negative refractive power, the rear group having a positive refractive power. Changing focal length from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end is performed by changing an air interval between the lens groups.