Camera Serial Number Search

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

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.

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

Camera Serial Number Search

Serial Number. Each Axis product has a unique serial number that can be used in the installation process or for identification of individual devices in large installations. Jun 1, 2011 - We have launched a new beta project, GadgetTrak Camera Serial Search, a free service that allows people to enter the serial number of their. The does not write serial information in the exif. See the supported cameras page for a list of models that do. The camera model could not be found in the exif. If you know the serial number, you can still run a manual search, or a look at the map and submit a report. Find your photos, find your camera the more reliable 'drag & drop' feature is only supported in chrome and firefox use the serial number stored in your photos to search the web for other photos taken with the same camera.

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.

Camera Serial Number Search

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 code

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

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).

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).

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.

When Kevin Hayes's treasured camera was stolen while he was on a business trip in Canberra in March 2009, he didn't hold out much hope of getting it back. The theft was galling both because the camera was a birthday present from his wife four weeks before – and that its A$5,200 (£3,400) value wasn't insured.

Nikon Camera Serial Number Lookup

More than two years later, after Hayes happened to mention his loss on a web forum, someone suggested he take a look at a website called StolenCameraFinder.com. The site was set up in 2009 by Matt Burns, a 30-year-old software engineer from Bristol, after two of his own cameras were stolen in a burglary at his home.

The principle behind the site is simple enough: every digital camera picture includes certain codes that associate it with the camera that took it. They can be erased, but it's difficult, and if you are simply uploading pictures to a site such as Flickr or Facebook, it's probably more trouble than it's worth.

Depending on the make, the details embedded in the photo – known as the EXIF data – include the camera's unique serial number.

Hayes, who lives in Melbourne, recalls: 'Without any expectations whatsoever, I entered my missing [camera's] serial number. First hit. Bang. Straight to a Flickr account. A photo is shown, taken in March this year and uploaded shortly after. I check the EXIF data of the image and it's my camera, my serial number and my missing lens.'

Hayes said he had 'the most incredible feeling' when he realised he had rediscovered his lost gift.

It was indeed Hayes's camera – a Canon 5D MKII – that had been used since May 2009, just six weeks after it was stolen. The new user had even used it to take a photo of himself posing in front of a mirror, which he posted on Facebook.

Even better, a web search turned up the address of the person who had taken the photos (to show off their business) – and they happened to live just a short walk from a police station.

After a short investigation the camera and lens were returned to Hayes, who had been able to retrieve a copy of his original invoice.

For Burns, Hayes's story is the most prominent of what he hopes will be a string of success stories that will help reunite people with their treasured (and valuable) cameras. Other cases include a South African man who, after his camera was stolen, decided to sell its charger. He was then contacted by the person who bought that, having realised he had purchased the stolen camera.

Burns has been adding camera serial numbers embedded in pictures into his database since April 2010. Although not all cameras include them, Burns says 'the newer, more popular cameras do write the information. Most DSLRs [professional-grade digital cameras] do.'

Among the makes supported by his database are Canon, Casio, Kodak, Fuji, Hasselblad, Hewlett-Packard, Leica, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Phase One, Ricoh, Samsung, and Sigma. Smartphones aren't supported - yet: 'In theory it would work with smartphones in the same way, however I've yet to find a model that writes any useful ID in the EXIF,' Burns says. 'I may find a way though, it's just not been an area I've focused on. I may for example find some models write the IMEI [unique handset number].'

Burns's site – much of which he produced while in Cambodia on a 12-month round-the-world trip – is growing fast, with more than 50,000 daily unique visitors in May alone. The database itself is growing quickly too: anyone can add an extension for the Google Chrome browser that will check any serial numbers found in photos online and pass them back to the database.

But couldn't whoever stole the camera just delete the EXIF data? 'It's pretty trivial for a determined thief,' admits Burns. 'However, I think that having to do this makes a stolen camera much less valuable. Also, if the new owner didn't know it was stolen, they wouldn't wipe the EXIF data.'

That's exactly what happened in Hayes's case. The person who ended up with the camera will not face charges, as the police have accepted that he had no part in the original theft.

Burns has also created a business model for his site: the first search is free, but anything more requires a paid login, which will search many more details from the EXIF data.