# What's your oldest Canon EF lens?



## mrsfotografie (Jul 20, 2013)

I'll kick off with my Canon 28-70 f3.5-4.5 II 

Datecode UC0500: Utsonomiya, *05/1988*

I've also got the original hood (not shown).



> Canon Lens Date Codes - How Old Is That Lens?
> 
> Beside the rear lens element of many (but not all) Canon lenses is a date code (as seen above) in the form of "UR0902". This code is also present on many other Canon products including camera bodies.
> 
> ...


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## mrsfotografie (Jul 20, 2013)

... and my 50mm f/1.8 MkI is a little older; UC0302:

Utsonomiya, *03/1988*


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## blonigan16 (Jul 20, 2013)

I bought a Canon 28mm f/2.8 on Ebay last year from July 1987 (UB0700). Everything still works great on it after 26 years.


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## neuroanatomist (Jul 20, 2013)

UY = 2010. 

My MP-E 65mm is older, but you asked about EF lenses.


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## Marsu42 (Jul 20, 2013)

mrsfotografie said:


> I'll kick off with my Canon 28-70 f3.5-4.5 II



I have to admit you beat me, but considering longevity I've been shooting with my 1992 28-105 mk1 (replaced the 35-135 which was too narrow) up until a couple of months ago  ... and it held up great, a bit soft @f3.5 but surprisingly ok @f8 on crop for walkaround shots.

Unfortunately I cannot say this for the even a bit older 100-300 4.5-5.6: the good ol' Canon usm doesn't help if the lens is so soft @300mm that cropping @100mm has better iq :-\ ... so it's now a nice paperweight, this is really a model from the analog days where you couldn't crop the picture with the click of a button.


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## mrsfotografie (Jul 20, 2013)

Marsu42 said:


> mrsfotografie said:
> 
> 
> > I'll kick off with my Canon 28-70 f3.5-4.5 II
> ...



Well, I didn't really beat you because I bought this old zoom a year ago out of curiosity. The IQ is surprisingly good, the vignetting pretty bad. It's soon going to be up for sale again 'cause I've finished playing with it. My mint condition 50mm MkI however is a keeper 

I also had the 100-300 for a while, it's a good action sports lens put unfortunately very soft at the long end and with considerable CA. I loved it for its small size and lightning fast AF but the IQ overall was disappointing so I sold it.


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## distant.star (Jul 20, 2013)

.
Without digging into boxes of old stuff, the oldest thing I have still in some active use is the EF 50mm f/1.8 with a 1988 code:

UC0402

Interesting that it was a kit lens with the SLR I bought around 1990.

While I say still in some active use, it's really been supplanted by the 40mm pancake. As anyone using the old 50 knows the AF motor makes the sound you hear when you crank up an old castle drawbridge -- and it's not much faster either!


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## paul13walnut5 (Jul 20, 2013)

My bags all fairly recent.

The oldest design of lens I currently have is my 50mm mk2 which ates from 1990, mine was only bought in the last few years. 2nd oldest design 100mm f2.0, then 70-200.

Of the earliest stuff, i've owned:

50mm mk1 (lost infinity focus and repair shop couldn't get parts)
50mm f2.5 (great on film, never rated on digital)
135mm f2.8 SF (very nice lens, would have breen brilliant 200mm equiv on my dslrs except for ancient afd focus)
70-210 f4 (owned two of these, good video lens btw)
100-300 f5.6 (not L) not great, in any way.
28mm f2.8 probably my favourite lens. Wish i'd never sold it.

And its great to see the 28-70 ii. Loved this lens on my 5 (a2e) 50e, 3, didn't make so much sense on my dslrs, and the filter thread was a masterpeice of poor design.


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## Montell (Jul 20, 2013)

I still use a Canon Zoom Lens EF 50-200mm 3.5-4.5 L.
The focus sounds like a coffee grinder but it is sharp.
Date code UC0901


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## Powder Portraits (Jul 20, 2013)

My oldest and I intend on keeping this lens is a EF 50mm 1.8 mk1, with a date code of June 1988. Think it just celebrated its 25th birthday!


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## Kernuak (Jul 20, 2013)

My oldest EF lens must be an EF 28-80 3.5-5.6 (MkI). It doesn't appear to have a date code, but the MkII came out in 2004. I got it when I was looking to experiment with slide film a few years ago and it came with an old Canon EOS 500N. I've never used it, as I doubt the optical quality is up to my other lenses. Most of the lenses I had when I returned to photography in the digital age have now been upgraded, so my oldest of the ones I use is probably the secondhand 300 f/2.8, date code UU from 2006. I also still have my old Helios 58mm f/2 and Carl Zeiss Jena 70-300 f/4.5-5.8 (yes 5.8 ) in M42 screw mount from the early 80's.


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## optikus (Jul 20, 2013)

Hello,

exactly that 28-80 is actually on my D60 (NOT 60D!) - and it is pretty good there. Have it with me nearly every day on the banks of the middle Rhine.

I think it is my oldest EF.

Joerg


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## tron (Jul 20, 2013)

I have sold my 28-70 f/3.5-4.5 II. But it wouldn't count as my oldest lens.

I have kept my first EF lens: EF35-105 f/3.5-4.5

I also have EF50 1.8 (version 1) and 28mm f/2.8


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## Vossie (Jul 20, 2013)

My oldest EF is the 50 1.4; I bought it around 2001; it was my 2nd EF lens (but I have sold the 28-135 quite a while ago)


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## jdramirez (Jul 20, 2013)

I keep buying and selling lenses so my arsenal keeps getting refreshed. Probably only 2011... it's a 70-200mm f2.8l is mkii.


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## rpt (Jul 20, 2013)

jdramirez said:


> I keep buying and selling lenses so my arsenal keeps getting refreshed. Probably only 2011... it's a 70-200mm f2.8l is mkii.


 ;D

And I thought I could boast of my FD lenses - but U da man!
No, you da man!
No! U da man!
OK, I da man


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## eos650 (Jul 20, 2013)

Here are mine:

The 1st is a 50mm f1.8
The 2nd is a 35-70mm f3.5-4.5

I also have a 70-210mm f4.0 with code UB0700


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## CharlieB (Jul 20, 2013)

I still have the orginal 35-80 that came with an old film Rebel-S. Also have two old zooms from that era... are they 70-200 or 80-200... plastic mount stuff. Old. Still work fine! The one zoom totally clouded on an early morning outing, and when it cleared up... a sort of residue was left behind on one of the elements. Not worth fixing, so I bought another for $99 new. Ha~ The flare caused by the residue makes that zoom "perfect" for portraiture now. Sort of like a Softar I from Zeiss.

Oldest metal mount lens... 28/2.8. My 50/1.4 focus died and that was replaced too.... but the 28's been doing well since the mid 1990's.


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## Maxaperture (Jul 20, 2013)

Kernuak said:


> My oldest EF lens must be an EF 28-80 3.5-5.6 (MkI). It doesn't appear to have a date code, but the MkII came out in 2004. I got it when I was looking to experiment with slide film a few years ago and it came with an old Canon EOS 500N.



Me too, that's my oldest lens, kitted with the 500n, and the reviews reckon it's a cracking lens, but Canon ruined it with a MkII version.


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## AlanF (Jul 20, 2013)

distant.star said:


> .
> Without digging into boxes of old stuff, the oldest thing I have still in some active use is the EF 50mm f/1.8 with a 1988 code:
> 
> UC0402
> ...



Same. The. 50mm f/1.8 with the metal mount is much sought after.


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## paul13walnut5 (Jul 20, 2013)

Yep it's a nice little lens, second hand values getting very silly now, nearly as much as 50mm f1.4 yet out of parts for repair.

Seems to have a cult status these days.


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## mrsfotografie (Jul 20, 2013)

CharlieB said:


> I still have the orginal 35-80 that came with an old film Rebel-S. Also have two old zooms from that era... are they 70-200 or 80-200... plastic mount stuff. Old. Still work fine! The one zoom totally clouded on an early morning outing, and when it cleared up... a sort of residue was left behind on one of the elements. Not worth fixing, so I bought another for $99 new. Ha~ The flare caused by the residue makes that zoom "perfect" for portraiture now. Sort of like a Softar I from Zeiss.
> 
> Oldest metal mount lens... 28/2.8. My 50/1.4 focus died and that was replaced too.... but the 28's been doing well since the mid 1990's.



Your clouded zoom gives an interesting angle to the story, I didn't know about the Softar filters. Thanks


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## Kernuak (Jul 20, 2013)

Maxaperture said:


> Kernuak said:
> 
> 
> > My oldest EF lens must be an EF 28-80 3.5-5.6 (MkI). It doesn't appear to have a date code, but the MkII came out in 2004. I got it when I was looking to experiment with slide film a few years ago and it came with an old Canon EOS 500N.
> ...


Perhaps I should try it out. The build quality is pretty awful, but then so was my first Tamron lens and the optical quality on that was pretty good for the price. I'm sort of spoiled by my 24mm MkII and 50 f/1.4 though.


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## BozillaNZ (Jul 22, 2013)

EF 50 1.8 MK I, Date code UB which means 1987

But I got rid of it because it had a nasty yellow-greenish color cast on the images. Maybe the glass has yellowed.


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## mrsfotografie (Jul 22, 2013)

BozillaNZ said:


> EF 50 1.8 MK I, Date code UB which means 1987
> 
> But I got rid of it because it had a nasty yellow-greenish color cast on the images. Maybe the glass has yellowed.



First time I've heard of this, has it perhaps been used much in strong sunlight?


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## Viggo (Jul 22, 2013)

My 35 L is a feburary 2004, and it's one of the best lenses I have owned with no issues. And still looks brand new. Previous owner must've treated it like one of his kids.


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## BLFPhoto (Jul 22, 2013)

My dad still has my original 50mm f/1.8 Mk I, which I bought in 1989 along with my first Canon EOS 650 camera. I had owned minor Nikon kit up to that point, but when Canon jumped out with AF, I jumped to them. That Mark I has traveled around the world and hit 6 of the continents with me while in the military. I'll never sell it, but my dad is using it these days on my old 40D.


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## TLN (Jul 22, 2013)

Canon EF 80-200/2.8L from the first EOS line in 1989. My lens manufactures in 1994, I believe and it works like a charm.
It was later replaced with 70-200/2.8, so this is quite rare lens.


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## Stormer (Jul 22, 2013)

Hi all.
My EF50mm f1.8 is stamped UB0300. (Manufactured March 1987)
Unbelievably, this lens is in brand new condition. I recently bought it complete with an EOS 620 camera, the original shipping plastic protector tape was still inside the camera. I paid the seller a total of US $100 for the camera and lens and sold my pure plastic "nifty fifty" for US $65. 
The story the seller gave me is that his late father had bought this camera as a spare and it had been packed away in a cupboard ever since.


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## Jon Gilchrist (Jul 22, 2013)

I have a 50/1.8 Mk 1 with a date code UB0200, so that's February of 1987. Pristine condition.

It's for sale if anyone is interested.


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## fugu82 (Jul 22, 2013)

I have the 28-80 that possibly came with my Elan IIE [and whatever happened to eye-controlled AF? I thought it was pretty cool]. It's stamped with 8107536B, which I can't decode.


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## AlanF (Jul 22, 2013)

Jon Gilchrist said:


> I have a 50/1.8 Mk 1 with a date code UB0200, so that's February of 1987. Pristine condition.
> 
> It's for sale if anyone is interested.



+1 Mine is also UB0200. It looks even more pristine, if that's possible, than yours.


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## leftnose (Jul 22, 2013)

A 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 that I got in about 1996 as the kit lens with my A2. Then I got a 100-300 f/4-5.6 about a year later and a couple after that, I bought a 35/2. Still have all three. Don't use the zooms anymore but the 35 gets regular use on my 5D3. I didn't like it too much on my 5D2 as I could never get satisfactory AF, even with AFMA, but the lens has come back to life on my 5D3 and focuses spot on. Great little travel lens.


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## RLPhoto (Jul 22, 2013)

My 135L is from 2008.  It was my first L lens and hasn't had the easiest life.


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## lol (Jul 22, 2013)

I don't have it any more, but I used to have an EF 300mm f/2.8 which dated from November 1987. It looked it too, being "well used". Got the Sigma 120-300 OS now and that does everything it did and more.


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## michi (Jul 22, 2013)

I also have a 50mm 1.8. Date code UC0402, so April 1988. Bought it with a A2e in Europe. In 1988 I think. Lens is in near mint condition even though I used it until about two years ago when I bought a 50 1.4 while they were on sale. Yeah, it's loud, but that's about the only drawback (until Canon comes out with their next gen 50mm lenses).

I also have a 70-210 f4 which I bought maybe a year later, but it's on loan with a cousin and I don't know the date code. It's also has pretty poor image quality, so I don't miss it...


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## KyleSTL (Jul 22, 2013)

I'll have to check the pictures that I took when I sold my 28mm f/2.8 and 50mmf/1.8, I want to say at least one of them had a UB code.


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## jsexton (Jul 22, 2013)

50mm 1.8 I bought new in 1984 with my "Olympic Edition" AE-1 Program. Still have the camera too


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## RGF (Jul 22, 2013)

My 3 oldest canon lens are 

180 macro UW (thought I bought in 2000 - so code date implies 1983!)
300 F2.8 IS - no code I could find
500 F4 IS - again could not find the code


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## tron (Jul 22, 2013)

jsexton said:


> 50mm 1.8 I bought new in 1984 with my "Olympic Edition" AE-1 Program. Still have the camera too


OP's question was about EF lenses. The lens you mention is obviously FD. 

However, you reminded me of the days that I was (ignorant and) about ready for my first SLR. It was 1981 and I was thinking Canon A-1 when the salesman talked me into getting Konica Autoreflex TC. However, when I lost (literally) a Sigma 70-210 a friend talked me into changing system in general (I only had the Konica with a 40mm 1.8). So I got EOS 620 with 35-105 f/3.5-4.5 100-300 5.6 and 420EZ.


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## rmblack (Jul 22, 2013)

I have the older 80-200 2.8 all metal "drainpipe" from 1989 (which I just found out recently is perfect for IR photography!), and the old 28-70 2.8 ~1993 all metal as well. The AF switch just broke on the 28-70 so I might be taking it apart or getting it fixed locally soon, but the 80-200 was fixed last year after I bought it and is a great lens!


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## sulla (Jul 22, 2013)

I offer an "E" lens from 1990: EF 35-80mm f/4-5.6

Gosh, I just realise that I haven't got this one in my signature...


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## Jon Gilchrist (Jul 23, 2013)

AlanF said:


> Jon Gilchrist said:
> 
> 
> > I have a 50/1.8 Mk 1 with a date code UB0200, so that's February of 1987. Pristine condition.
> ...



Looking at the picture perhaps "pristine" isn't the right word for my lens. Considering the thing is 26 years old and was not stored as a museum piece, it's in pretty amazing condition. There are a couple minor scuff marks and there is evidence on the contacts that it has actually been mounted on a camera. It's still in better shape than my 2-year old 24-105. I doubt there are many Mk2 plastic fantastic versions still surviving after 20+ years.


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## Click (Jul 23, 2013)

My 2 oldest Canon lens are:

14 f2.8L II ... 2009

16-35 f2.8L II ... 2009


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## mrsfotografie (Jul 23, 2013)

Jon Gilchrist said:


> AlanF said:
> 
> 
> > Jon Gilchrist said:
> ...



It says something about relative build quality when people rather buy a 23+ years old occasion at a premium over a newly manufactured, all plastic model. I payed 1.3x what the MkII costs and have never regretted it


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## paul13walnut5 (Jul 23, 2013)

mrsfotografie said:


> Jon Gilchrist said:
> 
> 
> > AlanF said:
> ...



I had a mark 1 that lost infinity focus and couldn't be repaired unless I could source a donor lens with a different fault.
By that point I threw the towel in, optically there is no difference in any case.

I wouldn't buy a mark one now, mainly because of the parts issue, 23 years is a lot of iris movements etc...

They have become a cult item, fair enough, i just kind of think if you are going to spend 50% more for build quality then why not go that little bit further and get improved build, improved focus, improved bokeh, improved max aperture and pick up an in warranty in production servicable 1.4 instead?

I settled for the plastic fantastic.


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## mrsfotografie (Jul 23, 2013)

paul13walnut5 said:


> I had a mark 1 that lost infinity focus and couldn't be repaired unless I could source a donor lens with a different fault.
> By that point I threw the towel in, optically there is no difference in any case.
> 
> I wouldn't buy a mark one now, mainly because of the parts issue, 23 years is a lot of iris movements etc...
> ...



Actually from what I've heard the 1.4 is not really that reliable, with stuck focus rings for instance. History shows the Mk I to be remarkably durable, so it's worth having a unit that hasn't seen that much use over the years (hooray to my sublime copy  ) 

Nothing wrong with the plastic fantastic by the way, given its low pricing (but still I prefer the Mk I).


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