How digital cameras are made

Form the body

Higher-end bodies use magnesium alloy. Cheaper cameras mold a chassis from polycarbonate with glass fiber in it, held to tight tolerances because everything else bolts to this frame.

Mount sensor in clean air

Sensors are usually fitted by trained technicians in a dust-free clean room, an expensive way to work. One patent seals the sensor in its own module so the rest of the camera can be built in an ordinary electronics plant.

Build the electronics

Circuits for the camera's controls are built as subassemblies and arrive ready to install. At Fujifilm, the parts are grouped into five sections in factories around the world, then shipped to Taiwa. Memory chips and battery cells come from outside makers too.

Assemble the top plate

On the GFX 100, this slim strip holds a small status screen and a drive-mode button. Workers put it together by hand, using tweezers and magnifiers for the smallest pieces.

180 parts

Fit mount and front

People set the lens mount ring on the body, then add copper contact wires and the finished sensor housing with its stabilizer. Each part is placed, checked and checked again before the section moves on.

320 parts

Clean and stack lenses

Lenses are hand-assembled in a clean room, where visitors wear full suits and leave camera straps outside to keep out stray fibers. Each piece of glass is cleaned several times before it goes in the tube.

Wrap in leather

After the back panel goes on, the leather covering is stretched over the metal body. Trained staff may need up to 20 minutes, though workers on the floor were seen doing it in a few.

Test every unit

A camera that fails a single test goes back to be refitted. An adapter stays in the USB port throughout so repeated cable changes do not wear it, and random units are tested again on the packaging floor.