canon camera serial number manufacture date

The reason I know that my lens was manufactured in 2005 and not 1979 (since both are labeled as “ T”) is mainly because this lens did not exist back in the 70’s and partly because the factory code is at the beginning. Canon started with letter “ A” in 1960 and got to ‘’ Z” in 1985, then they went back to “ A” in 1986 and ended the alphabet again in 2011. You can tell the year by checking your code against the table below. The second letter “ T” means that it was produced in 2005. Prior to 1986 this letter was at the end of the date code. There are three plants which produced EF lenses: U = Utsunomiya, F = Fukushima, O = Oita. The first letter “ U” means that the lens was manufactured in Canon’s plant in Utsunomiya, Japan. Here is the date code on my trusty EF 24-70mm 2.8L – “ U T 1009.” You can find this code on the inner rim of the lens (the side that attaches to the camera).

I will refer to these big serial numbers as “the new system.” The Old SystemĬanon’s old dating system is fairly straight forward, if you know what each letter means. I am sure that internally Canon has a nice chart on how to decipher each number on the new serial numbers, but they don’t share it with the rest of us, so we have to make a few calculated guesses. And to top it off, it looks like they’ve reset the date count in the beginning of 2013. I will refer to these date codes as “the old system.” But starting in 2008, Canon created a new numbering system which incorporates production date, internal repairing code and an actual serial number into one consolidated block. Click here to see the list of non-L lenses that have date codes post 1990 (if your non-L lens is not on this list, then you are out of luck). In 1990, Canon started placing date codes on select lenses only. In this quick tutorial I will show you exactly how to decode these date codes on older lenses as well as the new serial numbers.Īs I have mentioned above, Canon has been placing date codes on their lenses for a long time and previously many lenses had the date code placed separate from the actual serial number. Fortunately, Canons has been stamping date codes on their lenses since 1960 and you can pinpoint your lens’s production date, if you know how to decode it. The lens’ manufacturing date can give a rough estimate of how long the lens has been in use for, even if you factor in the shipping and warehouse storage times.

However, most people who buy used lenses really want to know how old a lens is without solely relying on seller’s information. So if you bought your lens new, you have a good idea how old your lens is. If you buy a new lens from an authorized dealer, the chances are, the lens was manufactured fairly recently. Have you ever wondered how old is your Canon lens? I often get asked if it’s possible to determine the age of a Canon lens.

Canon camera serial number manufacture date