A zoom lens consists essentially of a positive first lens group, a negative second lens group, a negative third lens group, and a positive fourth lens group. During zooming from the wide angle end to the telephoto end, the first lens group and the fourth lens group are fixed, the third lens group is moved monotonously from the object side to the image side, and the second lens group is moved to correct an image plane variation associated with the zooming When the amounts of movements of the second lens group and the third lens group are taken as M2 and M3 respectively, the zoom lens satisfies a conditional expression (1): 0