DKL / Deckel Lenses
3 interactive lens diagrams
Deckel leaf-shutter bayonet family, 1950s-1960s | Mostly 35 mm rangefinder and leaf-shutter SLR cameras
DKL refers to the Deckel bayonet family used by several German 35 mm cameras, often with a Synchro-Compur leaf shutter positioned in the camera body behind the lens. Important examples include Kodak Retina Reflex/Retina IIIS, Voigtlander Bessamatic and Vitessa-T, and related Braun systems.
The mount is really a family of closely related variants rather than one perfectly interchangeable standard. Aperture control, indexing, and mechanical details can differ by camera maker, so lens compatibility needs more care than a simple bayonet label suggests.
Optically, DKL lenses are a compact window into late leaf-shutter camera design. Schneider, Rodenstock, Voigtlander, and other makers produced high-quality normal, wide, and telephoto lenses, but the small shutter throat and body shutter arrangement shaped what kinds of fast and wide designs were practical.