D3v4 answer
If you are here looking for the same but with D3 v4,
var zoom = d3.zoom().on("zoom", function(){
svg.attr("transform", d3.event.transform);
});
vis = svg.append("svg:svg")
.attr("width", width)
.attr("height", height)
.call(zoom) // here
.call(zoom.transform, d3.zoomIdentity.translate(100, 50).scale(0.5))
.append("svg:g")
.attr("transform","translate(100,50) scale(.5,.5)");