Canon: How Old is Your Canon Lens?
In 1986, with the design of the EOS System (Electro-Optical System, EOS started to ship in 1987), Canon started added a date code to their lenses.
Many of the new Canon lenses do not have a date code.
A large number of the Canon lenses have a date code in the form of "UX0311". Often it's on the lens mount.
The first letter, "U", indicates that the lens was made in Utsunomiya factory.
U = Utsunomiya, Japan
F = Fukushima, Japan
O = Oita, Japan
The second letter, "X", is a year code that indicates the year of manufacture. Canon increments this letter each year starting with A in 1986 and in 2012 it's “supposed†to rotate back to A:
| Code | Year |
|---|---|
| A | 1986 |
| B | 1987 |
| C | 1988 |
| D | 1989 |
| E | 1990 |
| F | 1991 |
| G | 1992 |
| H | 1993 |
| I | 1994 |
| J | 1995 |
| K | 1996 |
| L | 1997 |
| M | 1998 |
| N | 1999 |
| O | 2000 |
| P | 2001 |
| Q | 2002 |
| R | 2003 |
| S | 2004 |
| T | 2005 |
| U | 2006 |
| V | 2007 |
| W | 2008 |
| X | 2009 |
| Y | 2010 |
| Z | 2011 |
- The first two numbers, "03", is the month number the lens was manufactured, in this case March. Sometimes, the leading zero of the month is omitted.
- The next two numbers, "11", are not the day of the month but some Canon internal code.
This lens, a 24-105 f/4 with a date code of: "UX0311", was manufactured in Utsunomiya, Japan in March 2009. On the other hand, my 70-200 f/4L doesn't have a date code.