1. Canon Serial Number Date
  2. Canon Serial Number Year
  3. Canon Camera Serial Number

How old is your Canon lens? With either the lens' serial number or date code, that question can be answered.

Dec 27, 2014  How do I verify a Canon body serial number? Dec 26, 2014 Someone is selling a body on Craigslist and they sent a photo of the box with the body #. Determining the Age of a Canon Lens Using Serial Numbers and Date Codes. How old is your Canon lens? With either the lens' serial number or date code, that question can be answered. Changing from Nikon to Canon, and recently watching 5d's on Ebay, i found one i really like the look of but wondered if anyone knew how to use the serial number to detect the cameras age. The serial number is: 073050xxxx.

Canon has been transitioning to a 10-digit lens serial number (starting in 2008 with the Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens) and ending the inclusion of a separate manufacturing date code. While date codes and the shorter serial number are still found on some lenses, this inclusion will likely end completely. We loved the date code because it made aging a lens easy. However, now we can age a lens based on the serial number alone.

Canon Serial Number Year

For information on determining the age of a pre-10-digit serial number lens, see the section on interpreting the old date code below.

Determine the age of a Canon lens based on the 10-digit serial number

To age a Canon lens using the 10-digital serial number, we dissect the serial number as follows:

DD C SSSSSSS

The DD is the key to the date the lens was manufactured - the production date code. The Canon lens date code chart is shown below.

200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
January385062748601132537496173
February395163758702142638506274
March405264768803152739516375
April415365778904162840526476
May425466789005172941536577
June435567799106183042546678
July445668809207193143556779
August455769819308203244566880
September465870829409213345576981
October475971839510223446587082
November486072849611233547597183
December496173859712243648607284

These dates should be viewed as approximations and should be used for your amusement as the estimates are not guaranteed correct. Please send any discrepancies you find. Note that Canon EOS DSLR camera body serial numbers, at least for 2013, do not follow this chart. Also please note that future dates shown in the table are predictions/expectations.

The third digit in the serial number, C, may be a charge/batch type of number. Canon has been using this number to indicate lenses needing specific service-related updates such as firmware.

The remaining digits in the serial number, SSSSSSS, are a uniquely-identifying number of the lens – likely within the production month.

Please note that, while the overall chart is holding out nicely with the lenses we've checked (including several late-2014 models), it is a work-in-process. In part, the numbers might be shifted by a month or so. Again, please send us any discrepancies you find.

Special thanks go out to friend-of-the-site Norbert for his role in the development of this chart.


To determine the age of a pre-10-digit serial number Canon lens bearing a date codeCanon scanner lide 100% pdf converter.

Until phasing out the practice starting in 2008, Canon included a date code beside the rear lens element of many (but not all) lenses (note that some 2012-manufactured lenses retain the date code). The date code (as seen below) is in the form of 'UR0902'. This code is also present on some 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

Canon Serial Number Date

Canon Serial Number Year

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 = 2012, 1986, 1960
B = 2013, 1987, 1961
C = 2014, 1988, 1962
D = 2015, 1989, 1963
E = 2016, 1990, 1964
F = 2017, 1991, 1965
G = 2018, 1992, 1966
H = 2019, 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, '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).

Canon Serial Number Year

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).

Canon Camera Serial Number

The Canon lens date code in the sample picture indicates that this Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L Lens (I know the lens model because I took the picture - not from the date code) was made in Utsunomiya, Japan in September 2003.