Canon Lens Date Codes Go Missing

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lostsoulal2

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I know that many of us use the Date codes that are normally on the bottom of the metal mount "L" series lenses to determine how old the lens is, but this ability may be disappearing from the Canon scene.

I have been seeing snippets that the latest Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM Lenses are being produced without the date code and with a longer 10-digit serial number.

"Chuck Westfall (Canon USA) has confirmed that this is indeed the case, but he was not yet able to determine if the longer serial number may have the date code embedded in it."

I for one have used this date code as a back stop when taking lenses for cleaning / calibration to Canon as evidence that it is still in warranty - I will have to be more vigilant in keeping receipts safe for the future!

It would be good if the Camera / Insurance / Retail industry could adopt a common online receipt system as I do struggle to locate receipts which are typically printed on tiny bits of paper.

Although I recently purchased a lens from Jessop's online and was automatically directed to a website called mythings.com and it generated an online digital receipt for me - so perhaps it is moving towards in that direction?
 
Thanks Jim,

I had done a quick search, but obviously had not found or noticed that thread - thanks for the link.

So it does appear that the Date code is on its way out - pity as it was a good indicator of how old a lens was.

Thanks

Roy
 
I've just got a couple of the new 70-300 L zooms, and they follow the same pattern. They have extraordinarily long serial numbers of the form 700000xxxx, but no date codes.
 
I looked at a 70-200mm F/2.8L Mark II IS lens that had no "date code" and the serial number was:

692 000 xxxx

So it looks like the first 3 digits are just a product code perhaps?

Maybe Canon can decipher the code backwards if they so desire or it may now be hidden within the myriad of other codes that are printed on the box sticker?
 
lostsoulal2 said:
I looked at a 70-200mm F/2.8L Mark II IS lens that had no "date code" and the serial number was:

692 000 xxxx

So it looks like the first 3 digits are just a product code perhaps?
Click to expand...
It's deja vu all over again....

StewartR said:
... these latest two have 10-digit numbers, 692000xxxx, which looks to me like the 692 is a product code or somesuch and the last bit is the "serial" part.
Click to expand...

Perhaps we should ask one of the mods to merge these two threads.
 
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