The “EOS” was developed under three major guidelines: no price increase due to the introduction of the AF mechanism, a lightweight design which enables shooting indoor sports hand-holding the camera with a “300mm f/2.8″ lens, and a autofocus sensitivity equivalent to exposure sensitivity. The development project was called “EOS (Electro Optical System).” The “EOS” is also the name of the goddess of dawn in Greek mythology, even more apropos for the new-generation SLR camera. At the end of April 1986 when the “F-501″ was released, the autofocus SLR camera commanded over 50% share of the domestic SLR camera market.Ĭanon also marketed an autofocus SLR, the “T80,” however, the focusing performance of the “T80″ fell far behind that of the “Minolta a-7000″ and “Nikon F-501.” Then, in March of 1985, Canon decided that “a highly-refined AF SLR model deserving Canon’s name should be developed with the target market release date of March 1, 1987, the year of Canon’s 50th anniversary.” The 35mm SLR camera leapt to stardom overnight. These SLR cameras were an immediate hit upon release and in addition to the already high domestic demand, high demand was generated in the North American market as well. Minolta introduced a true AF 35mm SLR camera, “Minolta a-7000,” followed by the “Minolta a-9000″ in September, while Nikon released “Nikon F-501″ camera in April 1986. In February 1985, two months prior to the release of the “T80″ camera, an event that rocked the camera industry occurred.
CANON CAMERA DATE CODE CODE
Sometimes the month code comes without the leading zero.Birth of New-Generation Autofocus SLR Camera, “EOS”
See below:Ĭanon incremented this letter each year, starting with A in 1986 and before using A in 1960 (without the initial factory code).įinally, the first two numbers (“09” in the example) mean the month of manufacturing, the final two numbers (“02” in the example) are an internal code used by Canon. The second letter (“R” in the image above) is the code of the year of manufacturing. “U” stands for Utsunomiya, “F” for Fukushima and “O” for Oita, all in Japan. The first letter (“U” in the image) indicates the factory where the lens was made.
CANON CAMERA DATE CODE SERIAL NUMBER
The “C” indicates the batch, the “SSSSSSS” is the serial number assigned to the lens.Īnd what about lenses made before the 10 digits system? Check the date code beside the rear lens element, see image below. Be aware that the code assigned to the year 2013 is a prediction, the code may also become “DDD”. The “DD” part mens the year of manufacturing (see image above). First, split the serial number in three parts: DD C SSSSSSS. So, want to know the age of a lens using the 10 digits serial numbers? No problem. However, now we can age a lens based on the serial number alone. We loved the date code because it made aging a lens easy. While date codes and the shorter serial number are still found on some lenses manufactured as late as 2012, this inclusion will likely end completely.
CANON CAMERA DATE CODE HOW TO
How to know the age of your Canon glass? First, let's quote The Digital Picture's post:Ĭanon 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.
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