Bob says: « The first letter tells the year the camera was manufactured: in this case, 1980. It's an alphabetic code; A = 1960, B = 1961.T = 1979, U = 1980, and so on up to Z = 1985. It's an alphabetic code; A = 1960, B = 1961.T = 1979, U = 1980, and so on up to Z = 1985. Over 20 years on the internet. Fast turn around on repairs. No Charge Estimates I usually have Canon AE-1s and Canon AE-1 Programs for sale. T he difference between Canon AE-1 and Canon AE-1 Program. Canon AE-1 came out in 1976 and is a manual and shutter priority camera. It has a analog type meter needle in the viewfinder.

1. Canon Ae 1 Camera Value
2. Canon Ae 1 For Sale
3. Canon Ae-1 Program Serial Number Year

Lens manufacturing codes

Some older Canon lenses are stamped with a manufacturing code consisting of two letters and (typically) four numbers.

Before 1986, the code may be in a letter/4 digit/letter format

The first letter indicates the manufacturing site:
U = Utsunomiya, F = Fukushima, O = Oita

The second letter is the year the lens was made

So the UC1204 Canon Date code would indicate a lens made at Utsunomiya in December 1988

The date codes restarted at 'A' again in 2012. This TS-E24 mk2 lens 'UD0406' was purchased in 2015 (box dated May 2015)

It seems that the old date code system is still in use - a TS-E17 UC0903 (Sept. 2014) is consistent with the box date (Oct. 2014)

[Thanks Ciriaco for the update]

The 3rd and 4th digits are an internal Canon manufacturing code. Starting in 1990, Canon only date coded some specific lenses

A newer lens date code

Note that the codes have become less common on recent lenses, with serial numbers in a different 'xx y zzzzzzz' format.

This is indicated on this EF8-15 f/4L fisheye zoom 7900001555

The first two digits are a date code, indicating month and year of manufacture.

In this case '79' equates with June 2011'

The next number '0' is believed to be a batch or manufacturing revision number (it has been used in the service/recall process)

The remaining seven digits '0001555' are a basic serial number (this was a very early lens - one of the first shipped in the UK)

How to interpret the date code? It's been suggested that the code starts in January 2008 with the number 38 and increments each month of the year.

We believe the code was reset to 01 for Jan 2013 - but this is still not known for certain. The figures here should be taken as a guide. If you find a change in codes, please do let us know and we'll see what we can add to this info.

The code seems to work for modern 'L' lenses, but take this example of an EF50/1.4

The lens was purchased in March 2012, so the code '83' for October 2011 is reasonable. The digit '5' for a revision code is also reasonable for a lens that's been around for a few years (1993), but we are left with a 5 digit serial number.

The 'revision' code is not certain, with a 2014 50/1.4 starting 17080xxx - OK for 17 (May 14), but '0' for the rev code?

...Thanks to a reader for sending this in - if you have any more examples, please do let us know?

So, a way of identifying dates, but not quite so clear as the old letter codes.

Canon Ae 1 Camera Value

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. If you buy a new lens from an authorized dealer, the chances are, the lens was manufactured fairly recently. So if you bought your lens new, you have a good idea how old your lens is. However, most people who buy used lenses really want to know how old a lens is without solely relying on seller’s information. 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. 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. 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.

As 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. In 1990, Canon started placing date codes on select lenses only. All ‘L’ lenses have them. 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). 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. And to top it off, it looks like they’ve reset the date count in the beginning of 2013. 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. I will refer to these big serial numbers as “the new system.”

The Old System

Canon’s old dating system is fairly straight forward, if you know what each letter means. You can find this code on the inner rim of the lens (the side that attaches to the camera). Here is the date code on my trusty EF 24-70mm 2.8L – “UT1009.”

The first letter “U” means that the lens was manufactured in Canon’s plant in Utsunomiya, Japan. There are three plants which produced EF lenses: U = Utsunomiya, F = Fukushima, O = Oita. Prior to 1986 this letter was at the end of the date code.

The second letter “T” means that it was produced in 2005. You can tell the year by checking your code against the table below. 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. 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.

The next two digits are the month. 01 being January and 12 December. Occasionally, the leading zero of the month is omitted. In my case 10 means October.

Finally, the last two numbers are internal manufacturing codes, most likely batch numbers.

The New System

The new system consolidates the date codes and serial numbers into one string of numbers. And this number is now placed on the body of the lens. It looks like this new system was only implemented on lenses that were marketed starting in 2008 and forward. So some lenses that were produced immediately after 2008, but were introduced to the market before 2008, still have the old dating system.

To determine the age of a Canon lens based on the new 10-digit serial number we have to visually break down the number into two, one and seven digits: DD A SSSSSSS

The first two numbers DD correspond to the manufacturing date. It starts in January 2008 with number 38. 39 is February 2008 and so on until December 2012 which is 97. Then Canon reset to 01 on January 2013. Please refer to the table below for all the dates and corresponding numbers.

The next number appears to be for internal use. And the final group of 7 digits is the actual serial number of your lens.

So following this breakdown you can see on this image that my EF 24-70 2.8L Mark II lens was manufactured in July 2013 (07).

If your Canon lens has a date code then you will be able to tell when it was manufactured. However, keep in mind that the production date is only just that – a date when your lens was made. Lenses can often take a long time to be shipped and then stored in a warehouse awaiting sale. Production date should only be one of the factors determining the extent of how long the lens has been in use for, other factors being the visual condition of the lens and smoothness of operation.

Canon Ae 1 For Sale

Canon Ae-1 Program Serial Number Year