Image forming optical system and electronic image pickup apparatus using the same

It is preferable that an image forming optical system includes in order from an object side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power, a second lens group having a negative refractive power, a third lens group having a negative refractive power, and a subsequent lens group having a positive refractive power as a whole, and that the third lens group includes only a cemented lens having a negative refractive power, which includes a positive lens and a negative lens in order from the object side. Moreover, it is preferable that a cemented surface of the cemented lens in the third lens group has a shape which is convex toward an image side.