Canon Lens Code

[USM]

Many Canon users have been wondering what is the meaning of those alpha numerical characters that are engraved on the rear of the lens. Actually, they represent something.

The first letter indicates that the lens was made in Canon's Utsunomiya, Japan factory.

The second letter is a year code which indicates the year of manufacture. Canon increments this letter each year starting with A in 1986.

The first two numbers is the month number the lens was manufactured in.

The next two numbers are meaningless in determining how old a Canon lens is. This is a Canon internal code.

From these codes, you will know the manufacture date of 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. Therefore, you have to use it as a guide in determining the age of the lens.

No	Lens Code	Year of Production
26	UZ	2011
25	UY	2010
24	UX	2009
23	UW	2008
22	UV	2007
21	UU	2006
20	UT	2005
19	US	2004
18	UR	2003
17	UQ	2002
16	UP	2001
15	UO	2000
14	UN	1999
13	UM	1998
12	UL	1997
11	UK	1996
10	UJ	1995
9	UI	1994
8	UH	1993
7	UG	1992
6	UF	1991
5	UE	1990
4	UD	1989
3	UC	1988
2	UB	1987
1	UA	1986

[USM]

The era for Canon lens code has come to an end.

Canon has finally decided to do away with the lens code on their lenses after more than a decade. The latest products and batch of lenses have 10 digit serial numbers. You will not longer find any lens code engraved at the rear of the lens.

Latest products include :

1) EF 70-300mm f4-5.6L IS USM
2) EF 1.4x TC III
3) EF 2x TC III

Of course, those new products that were announced but not available in the markets yet will have the same treatment.

Latest batch (i.e. manufactured in Q1 2011) for older products such as EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM II will not have any lens code.

I believe that removing of lens code will ease the problems face by the retailers/dealers. Many consumers are so paranoid about lens code and pay less attention to the condition of the lens, etc. I still remember one incident in a shop where the salesman told me that a customer wanted to buy a unpopular L lens. The shop has the stocks but the lens code is UX while it should be UY by now. The customer asked for UY code copy but they do not have because the inventory moves very slowly for this unpopular lens. In the end, the customer walked away because he thinks that the lens is already more than 1 year old even though it is brand new at the shop. On another occassion, many 2nd hand shops also looked into lens codes nowadays in order to ascertain the value of your lens. They never do that in the past as lens code is never in the equation of accessment of the valuation of the lens; but now is different because customers place the values of the lenses in accordance to the lens codes. Most customers will not buy a lens that has very old lens code even if the condition is mint unless it is selling at dirt cheap price.

Many years ago, nobody talks about lens code even though it was already there. Only recent years, the spread of lens code across the Internet platform has caused a huge interest in it.

Other brands do not have any lens codes on their lenses, so Canon is finally joining the mainstream.