Disclosed herein is a zoom lens, including: a first lens group having a positive refracting power; a second lens group having a negative refracting power; a third lens group having a positive refracting power; and a fourth lens group having a positive refracting power; the first, second, third and fourth lens groups being disposed in order from the object side; the lens groups moving upon zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end of the zoom lens such that the distance between the first lens group and the second lens group increases while the distance between the second lens group and the third lens group decreases.