One of the most forgotten cameras in the Leica Scuderia is the Leica M7. Purists select the MP or the M-A (which I happen to own and use!) or go digital. yet the M7, especially with the 0.85 finder is an excellent instrument. I use it often with a ISO 100 film and the SX 50 ASPH wide open. The exposure metering is quite accurate and the shutter is a joy to use. When taking pictures in low ambient light (around 1/8 to 1/15) the shutter noise is hardly audible and at 1/1000 the shutter produces the finest sound of every Leica shutter, including the new digital ones. The camera is very flexible: add a green filter for maximum sharpness and a ND filter to stay at wide apertures in full sunshine.
Evolutionary the M7 is the spring board for the M8 and all other digital Leica cameras. The current M is functionally almost identical to the M7.
The electronically controlled shutter is very accurate and sublimely quiet. Handling is very intuitive and the finder is bright with fast focusing. What else do you need or want.? This is a rhetoric question of course and I realize that the trend from negative to memory card is not reversible and it should not. The digital workflow has so many advantages that using a Speed Graphic is really anachronistic. On the other hand it is the film that separates the master from the pupil. Digital cameras are very close to industrial robots. Highly efficient and accurate, the robot is a living proof that the human operator is a clumsy competitor compared to the robot and artificial intelligence has more potential than human intelligence. The human brain is still capable of producing extraordinary ideas, but may researchers are confident that it is only a matter of time before a robot will be able to develop the string theory that Sheldon Cooper is focusing upon.
Using the M7 loaded with film is a fine and often necessary complement to the digital Leica M-camera.