Serial numbers
Manufacturers commonly use serial numbers to uniquely identify a camera lens or a camera body. Knowledge of these numbers allows, in many cases, to date the specific camera in hand. This page provides known serial number and date sequences for cameras, lenses and shutters.
Serial numbers of camera bodies
Production Code 'YRIS' in a Kodak Brownie II 110 image by Dirk HR Spennemann (Image rights) |
Kodak
Many of the Kodak bodies also use the CAMEROSITY encoding used for the lenses. A number of the 1970s and 1980s bodies have a four letter code, where the last two letters stand for the year and the first two letters stand for the Kodak production cycle in that year. Note that Kodak breaks the year into thirteen four-week cycles. This the CAMEROSITY code 'YRIS', ie. 0687, indicates that the cameras was produced in the 6th four-week unit of 1987 (ie aprox late May to mid June).
Serial numbers of lenses
Goerz American Optical Company
Part of the serial number sequences of lenses made by the Goerz American Optical Company[1]
Serial nº | Years |
0001-140935 | 1902-1903 |
150000-190170 | 1903-1905 |
200941-224267 | 1906-1908 |
223775-226630 | 1908-1909 |
310001-315734 | 1911-1914 |
315735-320000 | 1914-1918 |
751240-756909 | 1927-1937 |
755300 | 1934 |
756910-765730 | 1937-1945 |
765730-771199 | 1945-1948 |
771200-780169 | 1948-1954 |
791500 | ~1955 |
Kodak lenses
From 19¶¶ onwards, Kodak encoded its lenses, and in many instances, also camera bodies, using a two letter combination, encoded with the word 'CAMEROSITY,' which resolves as follows:
C | A | M | E | R | O | S | I | T | Y |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
The letters represent the last two digits of the year. Thus a lens with the serial number EA12345 would have been produced in 1942
Ross
Part of the serial number sequence of lenses made by Ross [2]
Serial nº | Year |
100 | 1840 |
3,000 | 1850 |
6,500 | 1860 |
12,500 | 1870 |
20,000 | 1875 |
44,430 | 1880 |
47,31x | 1885-1890 |
50,000 | 1890-1895 |
81,96x | 1911 |
86,000 | 1918 |
95,000 | 1921 |
100,000 | 1924 |
105,000 | 1925 |
110,000 | 1927 |
115,000 | 1930 |
120,000 | 1931 |
125,000 | 1933 |
140,000 | 1939 |
200,000 | 1947 |
213,000 | 1946-7 |
250,000 | 1960 |
Taylor, Taylor & Hobson
Part of the serial number sequence of lenses made by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson [3]
Serial nº | Year |
100 | 1895 |
5,000 | 1900 |
19,500 | 1914 |
71,000 | 1918 |
117,xxx | 1926-7 |
250,000 | 1939 |
303,xxx | 1944 |
300,xxx | 1947 |
688,03x | 1965 |
Voigtländer
Part of the serial number sequence of lenses made by Voigtländer [4]
Serial nº | Year |
4033 | 1852 |
5000 | 1854 |
10,000 | 1862 |
27,449 | 1884 |
30,000 | 1885 |
31,000 | 1886 |
32,000 | 1887 |
34,000 | 1888 |
36,000 | 1889 |
38,000 - 39496 | 1890 |
40,000 | 1891 |
41,911 | 1892 |
43,685 | 1893 |
45,431 | 1894 |
46,454 | 1895 |
47,771 | 1896 |
49,084 | 1897 |
54,168 | 1898 |
54,896 | 1899 |
65,691 | 1900 |
68,193 | 1901 |
70,682 | 1902 |
72,638 | 1903 |
75,479 | 1904 |
79,288 | 1905 |
83,477 | 1906 |
88,057 | 1907 |
97,999 | 1908 |
101,649 | 1909 |
105,778 | 1910 |
110,347 | 1911 |
113,569 | 1912 |
118,634 - 125,975 | 1913 |
126,001 | 1914 |
132,726 | 1915 |
137,682 | 1916 |
139,108 | 1917 |
142,853 | 1918 |
144,419 | 1919 |
154,426 | 1920 |
160,008 | 1921 |
172,136 | 1922 |
194,086 | 1923 |
216,948 | 1924 |
227,929 | 1925 |
248,505 | 1926 |
279,710 | 1927 |
365,562 | 1928 |
537,338 | 1929 |
671,174 | 1933 |
803,220 | 1934 |
1,026,690 | 1935 |
2,000,000 | 1937 |
2,718,530 | 1942 |
2,700,000 | 1945 |
3,000,000 | 1947 |
3,220,000 | 1951 |
3,300,500 | 1952 |
3,461,400 | 1953 |
3,600,000 | 1954 |
3,731,000 | 1955 |
4,001,000 | 1956 |
4,303,000 | 1957 |
4,514,000 | 1958 |
4,802,000 | 1959 |
5,033,000 | 1960 |
5,473,000 | 1961 |
5,900,000 | 1962 |
6,219,000 | 1963 |
6,423,000 | 1964 |
6,664,222 | 1965 |
9,999,999-10,000,150 | 1971 |
Zeiss (Carl Zeiss Jena)
Part of the serial number sequence of lenses made by Carl Zeiss Jena [5]
Serial nº | Year |
137,418-200,520 | 1912 |
208,473-249,350 | 1913 |
249,886-252,739 | 1914 |
282,800-284,500 | 1915 |
285,200-288,100 | 1916 |
289,087-298,157 | 1917 |
298,215-322,748 | 1918 |
322,799-351,611 | 1919 |
375,194-419,823 | 1920 |
433,273-438,361 | 1921 |
422,899-498,006 | 1922 |
561,270-578,297 | 1923 |
631,500-578,297 | 1924 |
631,500-648,500 | 1925 |
666,790-703,198 | 1926 |
722,196-798,251 | 1927 |
903,100-908,150 | 1928 |
919,794-1,016,885 | 1929 |
922,488-1,239,697 | 1930 |
1,239,699-1,365,582 | 1931 |
1,364,483-1,389,279 | 1932 |
1,436,671-1,456,003 | 1933 |
1,500,474-1,590,000 | 1934 |
1,615,764-1,752,303 | 1935 |
1,674,882-1,942,806 | 1936 |
1,930,150-2,219,775 | 1937 |
2,267,991-2,527,984 | 1938 |
2,527,999-2,651,211 | 1939 |
2,652,000-c2,678,000 | 1940 |
2,678,326-2,790,346 | 1941 |
2,800,000- ? | 1942 |
Post-War Production | |
3,000,000-3,200,000 | 1945-1949 |
3,200,000-3,470,000 | 1949-1952 |
3,470,000-4,000,000 | 1952-1955 |
4,000,000-5,000,000 | 1955-1958 |
5,000,000-6,000,000 | 1958-1961 |
6,000,000-6,000,000 | 1961-1964 |
7,000,000-8,000,000 | 1964-1967 |
8,000,000-9,000,000 | 1967-1970 |
9,000,000-10,000,000 | 1970-1975 |
Zeiss (Carl Zeiss Oberkochem/ West Germany)
Part of the serial number sequence of lenses made by Carl Zeiss Jena [6]
Serial nº | Year |
10,000-500,000 | 1946-1951 |
500,000-1,100,000 | 1951-1953 |
1,100,000-2,600,000 | 1953-1959 |
2,600,000-3,000,000 | 1959-1961 |
3,000,000-4,000,000 | 1961-1965 |
4,000,000-5,000,000 | 1965-1969 |
5,000,000-6,000,000 | 1969-1971 |
6,000,000-7.300,000 | 1971-1975 |
Serial numbers of shutters
Compur shutters
Sourced from A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum.[7]
Serial nº | Year |
214,000 | 1912 |
250,000 | 1914 |
450,000 | 1920 |
500,000 | 1922 |
600,000 | 1925 |
750,000 | 1926 |
850,000 | 1927 |
950,000 | 1928 |
1,000,000 | 1929 |
1,150,000 | 1930 |
1,500,000 | 1931 |
1,800,000 | 1932 |
2,250,000 | 1933 |
2,700,000 | 1934 |
3,200,000 | 1935 |
3,750,000 | 1936 |
4,250,000 | 1937 |
4,850,000 | 1938 |
5,400,000 | 1939 |
6,000,000 | 1947 |
6,200,000 | 1948 |
6,500,000 | 1949 |
7,000,000 | 1950 |
7,700,000 | 1951 |
8,500,000 | 1952 |
Notes
- ↑ Sourced from largeformatphotography.info
- ↑ From: Wilkinson, M, and C Glanfield. 2001. A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum, CD-rom Version 3F. Edited by A. N. Wright. Cornwall, UK: David Matthews Associates. Chapter 11, Pages 87-88.
- ↑ From: Wilkinson, M, and C Glanfield. 2001. A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum, CD-rom Version 3F. Edited by A. N. Wright. Cornwall, UK: David Matthews Associates. Chapter 13, Page 71.
- ↑ From: Wilkinson, M, and C Glanfield. 2001. A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum, CD-rom Version 3F. Edited by A. N. Wright. Cornwall, UK: David Matthews Associates. Chapter 14, Page 6-9.
- ↑ From: Wilkinson, M, and C Glanfield. 2001. A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum, CD-rom Version 3F. Edited by A. N. Wright. Cornwall, UK: David Matthews Associates. Chapter 7, Page 99-101.
- ↑ From: Wilkinson, M, and C Glanfield. 2001. A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum, CD-rom Version 3F. Edited by A. N. Wright. Cornwall, UK: David Matthews Associates. Chapter 7, Page 99-101.
- ↑ From: Wilkinson, M, and C Glanfield. 2001. A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum, CD-rom Version 3F. Edited by A. N. Wright. Cornwall, UK: David Matthews Associates. Chapter 12. Pages 65-66