Why mechanical Leicas are worth the money

Your contact sheet proves it in a way no review ever could.

I placed two contact sheets side by side: one from a Leica M7, another from the new Lomo LC-A. The Leica showed perfectly uniform spacing between every frame. The Lomo looked chaotic, with frames so overlapping and irregular gaps throughout the roll, that I couldn't even electronically stitch them together.

Note: this post is a rant because I created a software to stitch images together in order to create a virtual contact sheet, and when I use the Lomo, results are terrible due to that inconsistency.

Filmstrip of the contact sheet from a Leica M7

This visual proof explains why Leicas command premium prices decades after leaving the factory. The mechanical precision you pay for isn’t marketing hype. It’s measurable, visible, and functional.

German engineering that survives decades

The ISO standard calls for 38mm spacing between frames on 35mm film. The actual image should be 36mm wide, leaving a clean 2mm gap between shots.

Leica’s film advance mechanism consistently hits this target every single time. The sprocket engagement pulls film forward by exactly the right distance. The frame counter advances. The shutter cocks. Everything happens in mechanical harmony across thousands of rolls.

My M7 was made in 2000, 26 years ago. The spacing remains flawless. A well-maintained M3 from 1960 performs identically. The rangefinder might drift. Light seals deteriorate. But the film advance mechanism keeps working with the same precision as the day it was built.

Since it’s so precise, my software can append individual files and stitch them together to create a perfect virtual contact sheet.

Other cameras fail this test quickly. Budget mechanisms have too much play. Springs wear down. Gears mesh loosely. Each frame gets pulled forward by a slightly different amount.

The real cost of cheap cameras on 35mm

Poor frame spacing destroys value on multiple levels. See the result of what a bad camera does. My software fails because it was hard to scan.

Lomo MC-A frame overlap.

35mm gives you a small negative where grain becomes visible quickly. When frames overlap and you’re forced to crop, you lose even more image area. Quality drops measurably.

The format punishes spacing failures harder than medium format. A 6x7cm negative has so much space that losing a few millimeters barely matters. On 35mm, every millimeter counts.

Film costs money. A 36-exposure roll with 5 frames lost to overlap delivered only 31 usable shots.

Precision enables workflow automation

Perfect frame spacing enables automation. Imperfect spacing forces manual intervention.

Fixed-position film masks assume standard spacing. They position the camera sensor to capture specific frame locations. Load your film, snap photos at predetermined intervals, done.

This only works when the camera did its job correctly. Irregular spacing means frames don’t line up with mask positions. You must either manually adjust for every frame, or crop conservatively and lose image area on every shot.

The Leica’s precision eliminates this problem completely. Your scanning workflow runs smoothly because the mechanical foundation was built correctly from the start.

What the contact sheet proves

A Leica’s contact sheet shows mechanical truth. Every frame spaced identically. No overlap. No waste. Just precision that works the same way on roll 10,000 as it did on roll 1.

When people ask if a Leica is worth the money, I show them two contact sheets side by side. One from a Leica, one from anything else. The difference answers the question immediately: if you care for excellence, there's no other way.

Here's the result of my software that works as a contact sheet generator out of scans. The Leica brings so much precision to the table, that the stitching is seamless.

I will reveal that software in another post, stay tuned.