Every Field One is assembled by hand at our workshop in Al Quoz, Dubai, by one of six technicians. It takes two working days from parts to a camera ready to ship, and most of that time is testing.
The top plate
Each top plate starts as a block of aluminium, machined by a family firm in Sharjah, forty minutes north of here, then bead-blasted and anodised. They arrive in trays of forty and every one is checked for marks under a lamp before it goes on a camera.
Assembly
One technician builds a camera from start to finish and signs the card that goes in the box. There’s no glue anywhere inside: the sensor board, the shutter and the rangefinder are held with standard screws so they can be serviced for decades.
Calibration
The rangefinder is calibrated against a test chart at four distances, from 70 cm to infinity. This is the slowest step and the one I won’t let anyone rush. A camera that’s out by a hair focuses behind your subject at f/2.
Testing
- 1,000 shutter actuations at every speed.
- A 24-hour battery soak.
- A sensor clean and a dust check at f/16.
- Twenty test frames, which we keep on file with your serial number.
If a camera comes back to us in ten years, we can see exactly how it left.
If you’re in Dubai, the workshop in Alserkal Avenue is open to visitors Monday to Saturday afternoons. Ring the bell and someone will show you round.
