big country wrote:
Mike is right, people get really retarded over date codes.
Yup and most people are not like me who goes crazy and sell their lenses So date codes are more important to me but like I said this is the first year of this lens so it's a non issue IMO unless one is so worried about what month it was made
Most people buy a lens like this and keep it for years but I am now on my second one
I'm chilled about buying lenses which work, I'm not bothered about the date code and think that too many people are seriously paranoid about them.
Date codes are simply a Canon check that later batches don't go out to market before earlier made ones.
If you really want to know when a lens was made and what updates and revisions it has had - yes, they do update lenses without calling them MkII or whatever - then you need to know the serial number; that's what the repair centres will go on when ordering in parts, not the date code.
After all the serial number is engraved on the body of the lens, or lens mount in some cases, and embedded in the EXIF; whilst the date code is stenciled or moulded or engraved on a snap-in/out piece of plastic which can be changed in a few seconds.............
It's a wonder no-one has set-up a facility to offer new date coded dust caps - just think?
Oct 31, 2010 at 10:36 AM
Lars Johnsson Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
PaulB wrote:
I'm chilled about buying lenses which work, I'm not bothered about the date code and think that too many people are seriously paranoid about them.
Date codes are simply a Canon check that later batches don't go out to market before earlier made ones.
If you really want to know when a lens was made and what updates and revisions it has had - yes, they do update lenses without calling them MkII or whatever - then you need to know the serial number; that's what the repair centres will go on when ordering in parts, not the date code.
After all the serial number is engraved on the body of the lens, or lens mount in some cases, and embedded in the EXIF; whilst the date code is stenciled or moulded or engraved on a snap-in/out piece of plastic which can be changed in a few seconds.............
It's a wonder no-one has set-up a facility to offer new date coded dust caps - just think?...Show more →
You certainly post a lot about date codes for being a person that don't bother about them
I had a Canon rep on the phone a few months ago that would't even confirm that the "date code" is, in fact, a date code, only would accept the serial number. So, if you really can't find the letters/numbers on the camera mount end of this lens I would call Canon with the serial number and see whats up and go from there with the retailer.
Oct 31, 2010 at 12:17 PM
Lars Johnsson Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
cordellwillis wrote:
Probably because he's more realistic about the true value of the date code; though "value" is within the false and wasteful understanding of most.
In the end Paul is absolutely correct. It's not as if we're dealing in items that spoil over time.
It's not about "true value" of the date code. It doesn't matter what month/year he has on it.
But I wouldn't like to buy a new lens in a shop without any date code......when all my friends exactly the same lenses had date code's
cordellwillis wrote:
Probably because he's more realistic about the true value of the date code; though "value" is within the false and wasteful understanding of most.
In the end Paul is absolutely correct. It's not as if we're dealing in items that spoil over time.
Unless your selling it because most people want the newest date code and will pay more for a newer date code just the way it is.
You are kind of wrong about spoil over the time these lenses don't last forever and the older the lens most likely the more it was used.
Oct 31, 2010 at 12:24 PM
Lars Johnsson Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Yes of course the date cod have a lot of impact on the price of a used lens. When I'm selling my 85/1,2 lens. The price will not be the same with a date code from 1989 as a date code from 2006
The date code has been on Canon EF lenses since their humble beginnings in the mid-80s. However nobody gave a rat's tail about them until recent years. I sold many dozens of lenses here and on ebay and it's been only the last couple years I noticed date code fetish has become all the rage. Last year I sold a 70-200 4L on the B&S and got many PMs asking what it was. Of course I was unable to read it as it was too dark and faint and I couldn't find my old magnifying glass. No biggie as someone else without the fetish bought it a day later at the same price.
Nikon lenses do not have any date code, do they ? Maybe Nikon shooters do not freak out about buying/using older lenses.... . Remember, Canon shooters tend to pixel peep more and to be obsessed with their gear, too than Nikon shooters do/are.
As I mentioned in the previous thread, I would not buy a used lens that was manufactured close to the introduction day of the lens. I would like to buy a lens that is at least 6 months later. But that's for another reason. However, if the seller is a long-standing FMer and insists that there is nothing wrong with the lens then I don't have any problems buying that lens. All things being equal though, lenses with more recent dates command a slightly higher price than older specimens. Image quality-wise it may not matter at all, but if it is coming down to selling that lens again in the future, then it does play a role.
BTW, I could see the date code on my 70-200mm Mark II. Definitely, fainter than what I normally see on other lenses.
AGeoJO wrote:
Nikon lenses do not have any date code, do they ? Maybe Nikon shooters do not freak out about buying/using older lenses.... . Remember, Canon shooters tend to pixel peep more and to be obsessed with their gear, too than Nikon shooters do/are.
As I mentioned in the previous thread, I would not buy a used lens that was manufactured close to the introduction day of the lens. I would like to buy a lens that is at least 6 months later. But that's for another reason. However, if the seller is a long-standing FMer and insists that there is nothing wrong with the lens then I don't have any problems buying that lens. All things being equal though, lenses with more recent dates command a slightly higher price than older specimens. Image quality-wise it may not matter at all, but if it is coming down to selling that lens again in the future, then it does play a role.
BTW, I could see the date code on my 70-200mm Mark II. Definitely, fainter than what I normally see on other lenses. ...Show more →
This is true but back in my Nikon days when dealing with buying and selling the people want the invoice so in a way it's darn near the same.
So the Nikon don't pixel peep as much eh? interesting because I use to peep and so did many of my Nikon friends
Mike, there are more pixel peepers on the Canon camp; at least, that's the impression I got . I can always be wrong however. Canon users tend to put their gear under more scrutiny of their gear more so than the Nikon counterparts. Rightfully so or not the case or indifferently, you see Canon shooters push the envelope beyond what one typically experiences under normal shooting circumstances.
AGeoJO wrote:
Mike, there are more pixel peepers on the Canon camp; at least, that's the impression I got . I can always be wrong however. Canon users tend to put their gear under more scrutiny of their gear more so than the Nikon counterparts. Rightfully so or not the case or indifferently, you see Canon shooters push the envelope beyond what one typically experiences under normal shooting circumstances.
Yeah I guess your right when you get out and look at all the threads I guess we can say Canon people are more perfectionist lot
Oct 31, 2010 at 01:24 PM
Lars Johnsson Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Gochugogi wrote:
The date code has been on Canon EF lenses since their humble beginnings in the mid-80s. However nobody gave a rat's tail about them until recent years. I sold many dozens of lenses here and on ebay and it's been only the last couple years I noticed date code fetish has become all the rage. Last year I sold a 70-200 4L on the B&S and got many PMs asking what it was. Of course I was unable to read it as it was too dark and faint and I couldn't find my old magnifying glass. No biggie as someone else without the fetish bought it a day later at the same price....Show more →
Yes it's like you wrote that until recent years people didn't care about the date code. It's probably the internet and the photography forums that made people aware about those date codes.
But before when I sold lenses, people always like to have or see the invoice to check how old the lens or camera was.
newseum wrote:
I guess some folks don't get it. Its not a matter of being right or wrong but how you treat other people.
Exactly. No matter how right you are, calling someone stupid is really beyond the discussion on this forum.
PaulB wrote:
I just think you were being mischievous and putting the wind up to OP.
Not a very nice thing to post if that was your intention.
You obviously don't know then that Canon regularly replace the plastic cover - with date code - for a blank one when necessary during lens servicing.
I would have thought that the original receipt for a lens was more important, in addition we all know that (for eg.) a 70-200/2.8L IS MkII cannot have been made before a certain date anyway and ten years down the line who cares as long as the lens performs correctly?
So presumably if Canon discontinue the marking of lens date codes the s/h market for lenses will collapse!
I'm sure that the posters who haven't found date codes on their lenses will do so if they lok hard enough - I have some L lenses on which it is difficult to make out the date code, even when I know they are there. ...Show more →
I think you under-estimate the possible importance of the date code. Maybe, every single release of this lens will be great, but if someone identifies a difference between one code version and another, that date code becomes very important.
nathanlake wrote:
I think you under-estimate the possible importance of the date code. Maybe, every single release of this lens will be great, but if someone identifies a difference between one code version and another, that date code becomes very important.
Yeah like the 100-400 it seems like from UW date codes the lenses have a better track record as many as well as I have stated
So date codes are more important to me but like I said this is the first year of this lens so it's a non issue IMO unless one is so worried about what month it was made 
? Maybe Nikon shooters do not freak out about buying/using older lenses.... 