6 and the positive meniscus lens component of the seventh member l 7 which is convex to the object side may be united together into a single positive meniscus lens l 67 which is convex to the object side whereby it becomes possible to provide a zoom optical system covering a half angle of view of the order of 31 u00b0 with such a construction it becomes possible to forwardly shift the entrance pupil of the converging lens group and thus forwardly shift the entrance pupil of the entire lens system so that a more compact zoom optical system may be provided this converging group will hereinafter be referred to as type iii in the wide angle lens system of the present invention constructed in the manner as described above a single type of the diverging lens group is usable in common with three alternative types of the converging lens group these may be classified as follows for various examples which will further be described in the present invention the above mentioned common diverging group forms the greatest feature and it is desirable that the focal lengths of the individual lens components of the diverging group satisfy the following conditions where f 1 represents the total focal length of the diverging lens group f 1i the focal lengths of the individual lens components in the diverging group and.