This invention provides a method and apparatus for automatically inspecting the connection of a wire (50) to a lead (30) on a lead frame (10) containing a semiconductor chip (20) or similar device. Using an image processor (06) to locate the general position of a soldered lead (30) in a digitized image, the present invention creates, in Step (A), a template (120) of an idealized optical indentation left by a good bond; determines parameters such as wire angle, idealized position and shape thresholds for applying the template (120); conducts a normalized correlation search of a digitized image in Step (C); compares the results returned to the parameters and reports, in Step (D) the resulting signals generated by this comparison to a host controller (08) or other control module.