To provide a zoom lens system having high optical performance by using a diffractive optical element, the system includes a first group having positive power, a second group having negative power, and a third group having positive power. When zooming from a wide-angle end state to a telephoto end state, a distance between the first group and the second group and a distance between the second group and the third group vary. The third group is composed of a front group having positive power locating to the object side of the largest space in the third group and a rear group having negative power locating to an image side of the space. The front group includes an aperture stop and a diffractive optical surface. An incident angle of a principal ray reaching the maximum image height to the diffractive optical surface is ten degrees or less. Given condition is satisfied.