• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Canon Lens Year Month Date Codes (1 Viewer)

CANONROB

Well-known member
I hope this helps those that don't know how to check what Month/Year the Lens that you buy Second Hand from EBay, or other places is what they say it is, you can ask them before you spend your hard earned cash what the code is, and then check it is correct, you should find this very useful, I do!.

Canon Lens Aging - How Old Is That Lens?​

Beside the rear lens element of many (but not all) Canon lenses is a date code (as seen above) in the form of "UR0902". This code is also present on many other Canon products including camera bodies.

The first letter, "U", indicates that the lens was made in Canon's Utsunomiya, Japan factory. Prior to 1986, this letter is moved to the last position of the date code.

U = Utsunomiya, Japan
F = Fukushima, Japan
O = Oita, Japan

The second letter, "R", is a year code that indicates the year of manufacture. Canon increments this letter each year starting with A in 1986 and prior to that, A in 1960 without the leading factory code. Here is a table to make things simple:

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, 1972
M = 1998, 1973
N = 1999, 1974
O = 2000, 1975
P = 2001, 1976
Q = 2002, 1977
R = 2003, 1978
S = 2004, 1979
T = 2005, 1980
U = 2006, 1981
V = 2007, 1982
W = 2008, 1983
X = 2009, 1984
Y = 2010, 1985
Z = 2011, 1986

* assumption of continuation being made for future years.

The first two numbers, "09", is the month number the lens was manufactured in. Month 02 is February, month 11 = November. The leading zero of the month code is sometimes omitted.

The next two numbers, "02", are meaningless in determining how old a Canon lens is. This is a Canon internal code (that is occasionally omitted).

You now know the manufacture date for your lens - But - You cannot know how long the lens was in inventory, in shipping transit and on a shelf until it was originally purchased (without having the original receipt or a reputable person accurately informing you).

I hope this helps you.

Regards Rob
 
Last edited:
I like this kind of information - most of the time it is useless - but I like it anyway!

Just checked all of my Canon glass and only two out of 5 had the date codes. Those were a 1.4x teleconverter and the 300mm f/4 IS. Couldn't check my 100-400mm since it is in the shop for some 'adjustments'.

Maybe it's only the white glass that they date code.
 
potenially useful info - thanks.

I found the factory codes pleasing - U F O

Perhaps all the comments about the 500mm f4 IS being 'out of this world' are truer than we thought ;)
 
Last edited:
postcardcv said:
potenially useful info - thanks.

I found the factory codes pleasing - U F O

Perhaps all the comments about the 500mm f4 IS being 'out of this world' are truer than we thought ;)







Cheers for that info,at least i know my 400 DO date of manufacture.

Martin :cool:
 
Warning! This thread is more than 18 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top