When buying used Glass particularly, you will often see people mention the date code of the lens. But what does this mean?!

The First letter refers to the Location of Manufacture. For Canon its one of 3 locations.

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

the second letter refers to the year of manufacture. Canon recycles the 26 letters when they complete. Dont worry, I would hope you could tell the difference between a 2007 lens and a 1981 lens.

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

The first two numbers following the two letters refer to the Month of manufacture. The following two numbers just refer to a canon internal code of some sorts.

Thanks, Matt... interesting read, I've wondered what they meant for a while now.

- Scott

Originally Posted by Stime187

Thanks, Matt... interesting read, I've wondered what they meant for a while now.

- Scott

NP, I was all confused as well when I was looking, particularly at the L's, its nice info to know, e.g. the the difference between a US and a UU is 2 years. which could effect the lens performance/ it needing a checkup at canon. Plus pricing comparison.

First off, welcome!

Can you post a photo of where the numbers are located? Or find it via Google? That would help people ID the codes/numbers/etc.

its most likely a serial number.

So Canon manufactures its lenses in UFOs?


-A