Canon Camera & Lens Date/Factory Code

Canon usually have a white printed code on their high end cameras and lenses, this special code describes the date when made and the factory location where made. This information can be very useful to buyers of 2nd user canon items from places such as ebay

A link to this guide can be found at my website.

Canon have used 2 type of formats: 

Here are Some Examples.
*Note that in the Date; sometimes the leading zero is ommitted.   

eg. of Format 1...U114F                 
U...........1980.......Year of Manufacture
11........November.....Month of Manufacture 
4............N/A.......Irrelevant Info
F.........Fukushima....Factory of Manufacture

eg. of Format 2...US0701 
U........Utsonomiya....Factory of Manufacture 
S...........2004.......Year of Manufacture
07..........July.......Month of Manufacture
01...........N/A.......Irrelevant Info  
     
Places of Manufacture:    
F.Fukushima.Canon SLRs are no longered Manufactured here.  
O.Oita.Canon SLRs are now Manufactured here 
U.Utsonomiya         
The Month Code simply corrisponds to the number 1 to 12, ie. January to December.       
The Two Formats can be listed as Follows:
Format 1 - 1st Letter Year of manufacture, Last Letter Factory    
Format 2 - 1st Letter Factory, 2nd Letter Year    
Format 1................Format 2
A...1960................A...1986
B...1961................B...1987
C...1962................C...1988
D...1963................D...1989
E...1964................E...1990
F...1965................F...1991
G...1966................G...1992
H...1967................H...1993
I...1968................I...1994
J...1969................J...1995
K...1970................K...1996
L...1971................L...1997
M...1972................M...1998
N...1973................N...1999
O...1974................O...2000
P...1975................P...2001
Q...1976................Q...2002
R...1977................R...2003
S...1978................S...2004
T...1979................T...2005
U...1980................U...2006
V...1981................V...2007
W...1982................W...2008
X...1983................X...2009
Y...1984................Y...2010
Z...1985................Z...2011

I Hope this information Helps.  
Cubix.