Voigtlander Bessamatic CS
A view of the leaf shutter and the bayonet mount manufactured by the Deckel Company. Officially known as the "DKL" mount, it is often referred to as the "German standard bayonet mount." While several camera manufacturers adopted this system, they unfortunately introduced minor mechanical modifications of their own, meaning that lenses cannot be easily interchanged between different brands without modification.
Voigtlander Bessamatic CS
The Skoparex 3.4 35mm was the strongest wide angle from Voigtländer for the Bessamatic.
Voigtlander Bessamatic CS
Unfortunately, I don’t yet own a Dynarex 90mm f/3.4 or a Dynarex 100mm f/4.8. This leaves a small gap in my lens lineup, as my next focal length straight after the Septon 50mm f/2.0 is 135mm: the Super Dynarex 135mm f/4.0. It is a truly small but excellent lens!
Voigtlander Bessamatic CS
A close-up lens - Voigtländer called this "Focar" adapted to a Voigtländer Septon 2.0/50mm (a terrific lens!).
Voigtlander Bessamatic CS
The widest lens in the lineup—originally manufactured for the DKL mount of the Retina Reflex III / S. With a minor modification to the bayonet tabs, you can use these lenses seamlessly and without any restrictions on Voigtländer Bessamatic models.
Voigtlander Bessamatic CS
My absolute highest recommendation, if there is one lens you should treat yourself to for your Bessamatic, it is the Septon 50mm f/2.0. A total dream of a lens!
Voigtlander Bessamatic CS
My longest telephoto lens for the Bessamatic: the Voigtländer Super-Dynarex 200mm f/4.0. Voigtländer also offered a 350mm f/5.6, but unfortunately, I've always been outbid at auction, so that particular lens hasn't found a home in my collection yet.
Voigtlander Bessamatic CS
This picture was taken with a Voigtländer 4/135mm with a Focar D. I adapted this combination to a Sony A7III for this photo.
Voigtländer Bessamatic and Lenses for the Kodak Retina Reflex
I love shooting with my Voigtländer Bessamatic cameras. I also frequently adapt their lenses to my Sony A7III, especially the legendary Septon 50mm f/2.0. Unfortunately, the widest focal length Voigtländer ever offered was a 35mm lens. Kodak, however, took a different approach for its Retina Reflex system, offering options like the Rodenstock Eurygon 30mm f/2.8 or the Schneider-Kreuznach Curtagon 28mm f/4. Both camera systems, along with a few other manufacturers—utilized the Compur bayonet developed by the Deckel Company in Munich, commonly known as the "German standard bayonet" or DKL mount. Unfortunately, you cannot just swap these lenses between different systems out of the box. The manufacturers introduced slight proprietary variations on the camera mounts, which by design prevents lenses from being interchanged between brands. To use Kodak Retina Reflex lenses on Voigtländer Bessamatic bodies, a small "surgical" intervention on the lens mount is required, which you can see in the video. A tiny piece of metal needs to be milled away from the bayonet tab. My son Julian performed the operation for me. It is incredibly straightforward—don't be afraid to try it yourself and unlock a whole new world of lenses for your Voigtländer Bessamatic!
Watch the German version of the video here:
Watch the English version of the video here:
Here you can see where the notch needs to be milled. In my experience, it doesn't depend on the millimeter!
