- What is a contact sheet?
- A contact sheet is a grid of thumbnail images from a roll of film — traditionally made by pressing negatives against photographic paper in the darkroom, then exposing and developing it. The result is a single sheet showing every frame at 1:1 size, letting photographers review an entire roll at a glance, mark selects, and decide which frames to enlarge. Apps like Contact Sheet App recreate this workflow on iPhone, turning film scans or digital photos into a print-ready grid in seconds.
- How do I make a contact sheet on iPhone?
- Download Contact Sheet App from the App Store, choose your film format (35mm or 120 medium format), import your photos or film scans from your camera roll, optionally add a sheet name, camera model, and film stock label, then generate your contact sheet. Save it to your camera roll or share it via AirDrop, Messages, or any other app — ready to print or archive alongside your negatives. No darkroom, scanner, or desktop software required.
- Does Contact Sheet support medium format film?
- Yes. Contact Sheet App supports 35mm (6×6 grid, up to 36 frames) and three medium format layouts: 6×4.5 (5×3 grid, up to 15 frames), 6×6 (4×3 grid, up to 12 frames), and 6×7 (3×3 grid, up to 10 frames). Each layout uses the correct film aspect ratio and frame spacing, so your contact sheet matches the real proportions of the format you shot.
- Is Contact Sheet free?
- Yes — Contact Sheet App is completely free with all features included. There are no in-app purchases, subscriptions, or ads. Download it from the App Store on iPhone or iPad.
- How many photos can I fit on one contact sheet?
- The number of frames per sheet matches real film: 35mm holds up to 36 images (a full roll), 6×4.5 holds up to 15, 6×6 up to 12, and 6×7 up to 10. These limits reflect the actual exposure counts of each film format, keeping your contact sheets authentic to the medium.
- Can I use Contact Sheet App on iPad or Mac?
- Yes. Contact Sheet App is a universal app that runs natively on iPhone, iPad (iPadOS 17.6 or later), and Apple Silicon Macs (macOS 14.6 or later). It also supports Apple Vision Pro.
- What resolution are the exported contact sheets?
- Contact sheets are generated at 300 PPI on a standard 8.5 × 11-inch page (2550 × 3300 pixels) — print-ready resolution suitable for professional printing, archival storage, or sharing as a high-resolution file without quality loss.
- What are the 35mm film border options?
- When you select the 35mm format, you can enable authentic film borders that add sprocket holes and sequential frame numbers to each image — just like a real strip of 35mm film. You can independently customise the border colour, sprocket hole colour, and frame number colour using a full hex colour picker, letting you recreate the look of different film stocks and processing styles.
- Can I customise the colours and fonts on my contact sheet?
- Yes. You can change the background colour of the entire contact sheet, the text colour for all labels and metadata, and — if 35mm borders are enabled — the border, sprocket, and frame number colours independently. For typography, choose between Leica Regular (a classic camera-brand typeface with authentic kerning) and San Francisco (Apple's system font). All colour and font preferences are saved between sessions.
- What metadata can I add to a contact sheet?
- Each contact sheet can include three optional text fields: a sheet name (displayed on the left), a camera model (centre), and a film stock name (right). The app remembers your last-used camera and film names, so you can quickly generate sheets for the same setup without retyping. These labels appear in the header area of the finished sheet, matching the way darkroom printers would annotate their proof prints.
- Can I convert my contact sheet to black and white?
- Yes — shake your device after generating a contact sheet and it will instantly convert to black and white. Shake again to regenerate the sheet from your original colour images. It is a hidden feature that mimics the spontaneity of darkroom experimentation, and once discovered it appears in your Settings screen as an unlocked capability.
- Can I zoom into my contact sheet to inspect details?
- Yes. On the result screen you can pinch to zoom up to 3× magnification and pan around the sheet to inspect individual frames at full detail. This is especially useful at 300 PPI where every frame contains enough resolution to evaluate sharpness, exposure, and composition before deciding which negatives to enlarge.
- How do I save or share a contact sheet?
- After generating your contact sheet you can save it directly to your camera roll or tap the share button to send it via AirDrop, Messages, Mail, or any other app installed on your device. The exported image is a full-resolution 300 PPI file, so it looks sharp whether you share it digitally or print it.
- Does Contact Sheet App work offline?
- Yes. Contact Sheet App works entirely on-device with no internet connection required. Your photos are processed locally using your device's hardware, and nothing is uploaded to any server. This makes it ideal for use in the field, in the darkroom, or anywhere without reliable connectivity.
- Why do photographers still use contact sheets in the digital age?
- Contact sheets — physical or digital — let you see an entire roll simultaneously in a consistent grid, making comparative editing far more efficient than scrolling through hundreds of individual files. The format trains your eye to spot patterns across a shoot: where the light peaked, where expressions changed, which approach produced the strongest composition. Many photographers value the discipline of the contact sheet as a deliberate, analytical counterpoint to the instant-gratification of digital browsing.
- What is a grease pencil used for on a contact sheet?
- Photographers and editors traditionally mark contact sheets with a grease pencil (china marker) — circling selects, crossing out rejects, and sketching crop lines directly on the sheet or the negative sleeve. The annotations create a visible editorial record that travels with the negatives for years, a practice documented in archives from Magnum Photos to the White House Photo Office. It is one of the oldest forms of creative dialogue between a photographer and their work.
- How did Henri Cartier-Bresson use contact sheets?
- Cartier-Bresson reviewed his contact sheets with a loupe and marked chosen frames with a white Chinagraph pencil, identifying the single image that captured what he called the "decisive moment." His contact sheets reveal he routinely worked a scene across many frames before finding the definitive shot — proof that even his greatest images were the result of careful selection rather than pure luck. Studying contact sheets of masters like Cartier-Bresson remains one of the most direct ways to understand how great photographs are discovered as much as they are made.
- How does Contact Sheet App compare to making a contact sheet in Lightroom?
- Lightroom's Print module can arrange images in a grid, but it is a general-purpose layout tool that requires manual configuration and a desktop computer. Contact Sheet App is built specifically for the film photography aesthetic — authentic sprocket holes, film rebate borders, and roll-accurate frame counts — with instant mobile export and no friction of a full DAM workflow. For on-the-go proofing or sharing a roll with a client, a dedicated app is significantly faster.