Determining age of lenses

[Ray Vonn 2023]

Can anyone recommend any lens database(s). I'm not being specific here as I have a number of lenses, say Pentacons and Zuikos where determining their age is more difficult than I'd hoped for. Serial numbers are not enough it seems...

 

[KoNickon]

Sorry, I'm not aware of any "global" lens site like that. Probably you need to seek out lens info by brand -- lots of enthusiast sites out there. For instance, for Pentacon lenses, if made by CZJ, there's lots of that sort of serial number/date information available for Zeiss lenses.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Same goes for Leica glass serial numbers

 

[Mackinaw]

Some manufacturers (Canon) date code their lenses.

Jim B.

 

[jankap]

Same goes for Leica glass serial numbers

For Leica the Leica User Forum and look for Leicawiki (menu-bar at the top).

 

[Ray Vonn 2023]

Thanks all. Leica lenses are easy to identify of course. I've found getting manufacture dates on the aforementioned OM and Pentacon lenses not so easy.

 

[Steve Bellayr]

I have found dates for Leica, Nikon, Zeiss (pre-war & post war) & Russian lenses. They were listed on the internet. (They were the only ones I searched for.)

 

[Mr_Flibble]

For Leica the Leica User Forum and look for Leicawiki (menu-bar at the top).

I wasn't looking for answers, I was just saying that info is readily available online, like Zeiss lenses.

 

[KoNickon]

Thanks all. Leica lenses are easy to identify of course. I've found getting manufacture dates on the aforementioned OM and Pentacon lenses not so easy.

I do know that for the Zuiko lenses, the information on the name ring can help date a lens -- whether it says "Made in Japan" or "MC" will give you an idea at least of when those designations started to appear. But other than heavily researched brands like Leica and Zeiss, getting information about specific batches and dates is going to be harder to come by. True though, as someone pointed out, that there are certain date codes affixed on some lenses, like Canon, Mamiya TLR, Konica.

 

[p.giannakis]

I've found getting manufacture dates on the aforementioned OM and Pentacon lenses not so easy.

There is a factory code printed on the barrel of the focusing ring on zuikos but in order to find it you need to remove the rubber grip. This gives you information about year/month/factory but I would advise people against it as it is difficult gluing it properly together (pulling the rubber grip makes it expand and then looks loose when gluing it back).

 

[p.giannakis]

For example, i removed the rubber ring for this one and under the lens barrel it was written "λ 61" - the "λ" is the factory symbol and the 61 can be read as "1976", Month: January (1).