Assembled ROWI UKV Modular Camera Tripod Set
ROWI UKV Modular Camera Tripod Set in case

Rowi UKV Modular Camera Tripod Set

$68.00 CAD
$68.00 CAD

WHAT CONDITION THE CONDITION IS IN: 88-Day Confirmed Operation Warranty. This camera support kit is in near perfect condition. It works and comes with the original case. Keep scrolling for the full story or skip to the two pictures (it was a busy day and we ran out of time).

Robert Widmer built the Rowi* UKV somewhere in the German postwar machine-hum of Neuburg an der Donau, sometime in the 1960s if the block lettering and ribbed leg finishes are telling the truth, which they are, because precision always tells the truth.

At 1.2 kilograms, it's the kind of kit that makes you wonder why we ever trusted anything heavier: a Z clamping tube, an E ground spike, a W distribution cube, a U ball-and-socket head that locks in a single 90-degree turn with the satisfaction of an argument won cleanly.

Clamp it to a fence, spike it into the earth, mount it to a tree. It doesn't care much, because it was built not for convenience but for conviction.

It has no serial numbers, no individual identity, nothing so vulgar as a biography, and yet it will outlast your carbon-fibre contraption from the camera shop with its touchscreen collar and its pitiful little Instagram ambitions. The Rowi UKV was built for conviction, not convenience, which puts it in exceedingly rare company.

*ROWI, named, mercifully, for its founder Robert Widmer, started around 1922, but rose to fame in post-war Bavaria with the conviction that if a thing was worth making, it was worth making out of metal and making to last until everyone you knew was dead. While Leica was busy being famous, ROWI was busy being useful, producing mounts engineered to attach cameras to trees and automobiles, which says everything one needs to know about the 1940s.Their "Photo-Kino Zubehoer" catalogs were, this writer suspects, the only German literature of the period one could read without a schnapps. The Neuburg factory has since gone the way of all things sensible, but the hardware endures on the secondary market, outlasting its owners with what can only be described as poor sportsmanship.

Technical Specifications
  • System & Origin: Rowi UKV (Universal-Klemm-Vorrichtung), manufactured by Robert Widmer GmbH in Neuburg an der Donau, West Germany (circa 1960s to 1970s).
  • Core Modular Elements:
    W (Würfel): Multi-tapped solid metal distribution cube acting as the central connection chassis.
    U (Universalkugelkopf): Heavy-duty ball-and-socket head with a single-action 90-degree locking lever and a portrait drop notch.
    Z (Zwinge): Adjustable clamp tube assembly for attaching to pipes, boards, tables, and fences up to 65 mm thick.
    E (Erdspieß): Threaded solid steel ground stake for anchoring directly into dirt, sand, or gravel.
    Auxiliary Hardware: Solid steel ribbed support rods for tabletop tripod setups and a tapered gimlet screw for securing directly into trees or timber posts.
  • Thread Standard: Standard 1/4"-20 (DIN 4503 / ISO 1222) camera thread; accepts standard 35mm SLRs, rangefinders, and medium format gear.
  • Build & Weight: Heavy-gauge chrome-plated steel, machined brass, and cast alloy; total kit weight is approx. 1.2 kg (2.65 lbs).
  • Payload Capacity: 3.0 to 5.0 kg
  • Supported Configurations: Functions as a compact tabletop tripod, low-angle ground spike, rail/table C-clamp, or tree mount.