DPReview.com is closing April 10th - Find out more

Canon Lens Serial Numbers - Lower = Newer??

Started 4 months ago | Questions thread
Larry Rexley Senior Member • Posts: 1,238
Re: Canon Lens Serial Numbers - Lower = Newer??
1

Sittatunga wrote:

J Peters wrote:

Has anyone else noticed that newer EF-M lenses have lower serial numbers than older ones?

I have some going back to 2013 which start 9, newer ones start with 1 (all are 12 digits long). This concerned me recently when I bought a new lens and it had a very low serial number. I thought maybe I'd been duped with used, refurbished or new-old-stock, but this numbering system appears consistent with others I've bought. Is there some logic in this?

Interesting question, never thought about that.

The first two digits of the serial number are a code for the month and year of manufacture. This is an old article about it, http://www.myphotocentral.com/tutorials/determine-age-of-a-canon-lens/#:~:text=To%20determine%20the%20age%20of%20a%20Canon%20lens,It%20starts%20in%20January%202008%20with%20number%2038. There are some anomalies, you might be able to find a newer version, but it gives you some idea.

Thanks for shedding some light on this. I checked my EF-M lenses - some were refurbs and some from eBay. My 18-55 and 11-22 (both from eBay - and yes they are the most 'worn' EF-M lenses I own) both date to 2015, 55-200 from a pawn shop is 2019, and the other 5 EF-M lenses I have were all made in 2020. My EF-S 55-250 from eBay appears to be 2018. All those dates seem reasonable.

I wonder if there is some system for the serial numbers on Canon bodies as well.

 Larry Rexley's gear list:Larry Rexley's gear list
Canon EOS M6 II Canon EOS M200 Canon EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM +21 more
Keyboard shortcuts:
FForum PPrevious NNext WNext unread UUpvote SSubscribe RReply QQuote BBookmark MMy threads
Color scheme? Blue / Yellow