Have you ever wondered what those tiny little date stamps represent? When you unmount your beautiful Canon lens from your camera and look at the contacts, you’ll see some numbers stamped on the metal surface. Do you know what they mean? Or have you ever bought a used lens from someone and wondered how old the lens is? Here’s a good cheat sheet to help you out the next time you have these questions.
The first letter of the date code often refers to where the item was manufactured. There are only three (3) locations that Canon produces their products.
- U = Utsunomiya, Japan
- F = Fukushima, Japan
- O = Oita, Japan
The next letter of the date code refers to the year the product was manufactured. There are 26 letters. Canon recycles their letter codes.
- A = 1986, 1960
- B = 1987, 1961
- C = 1988, 1962
- D = 1989, 1963
- E = 1990, 1964
- F = 1991, 1965
- G = 1992, 1966
- H = 1993, 1967
- I = 1994, 1968
- J = 1995, 1969
- K = 1996, 1970
- L = 1997, 1971
- M = 1998, 1972
- N = 1999, 1973
- O = 2000, 1974
- P = 2001, 1975
- Q = 2002, 1976
- R = 2003, 1977
- S = 2004, 1978
- T = 2005, 1979
- U = 2006, 1980
- V = 2007, 1981
- W = 2008, 1982
- X = 2009, 1983
- Y = 2010, 1984
- Z = 2011, 1985
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Image courtesy of Craigslist (2794621600)
So you’re probably wondering. What do the other letters/numbers mean? Is there any significance to those? Well they’re basically internal to Canon. The most important codes to know are the first two as they pertain to location and year of production.
I hope that helps you out the next time you buy a used lens.
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