Kodak used a code system on many of their cameras to indicate the date of production. This was based on a four digit letter system which when decoded indicates a month and a year. George Eastman and, as a result the Eastman Kodak Company from 1928 to 1989, was a follower of the International Fixed Calendar, a calendar based on a year of thirteen months of four equal weeks. The result of this is that the code can indicate months from one to thirteen.

The letters of the code are commonly stamped just inside the rear film door or above or below the film gate.

It works like this: Take the first two letters from the camera code and using the table below transpose them for numbers for the month then the second two letters for the year:




Examples: YITA = 08-92, (8th month 1992); CAOM = 12-63 (12th Month 1963).

Note: There are a number of English made Instamatics from 1968 to 1974 which do not have a camerosity code but do have a 2-letter code stamped. The ones I have seen are WH, TX, RF, LX, PN and PF. Does anybody know their relevence? Please contact me if you you can shed any light on what they represent.