Recent experiences with Rolland Elliot?

Has anyone done business with Rolland Elliot recently? If so, about

how long was the wait and how was the work? I have several Nikkors in

need of matrix chips but have been reticent to send them in because

of rumours of Mr. Elliot's extensive backlog.

My experience with Rolland is not recent -- approx a year ago. I had a 600/5.6 AIS chipped

 

I sent in the lens mount, and after repeated calls and emails, I finally got back the finished product after about 8-10 weeks. Did it work? No. I called him, and after he suggested some things, he conceded that the chip might be bad, and asked me to return the whole thing. I did, and after another 4-6 weeks, he sent me back my mount with a new chip.

 

That one works perfectly to this day.

 

I guess Rolland is, and was, and incredibly busy person. Would I send in another lens mount, if I needed it done? Well, as far as I know, in the US, he's the only game in town.

 

To his credit, Rolland does excellent work, and the installed chip works as advertised. As long as you're not in a rush.

 

KL

I asked for a new lensmount with chip for my 300mm F2.8 AIS Nikkor in May. I called him from germany to see if he would be willing to do this because he seemed not so keen on this on his website. He gave me an offer and since then i send several emails and called about 4 times. every time he promised he just got the parts, it was difficult to get them but he would send in a few days. A fax number he gave me did not work from my fax. I consider now to send a nice x-mas card - perhaps that might help. Actually I can see that someone is very busy and myself I sometimes have to say no to people. But If someone tells me several times its almost ready to ship and nothing happens than i get a bit frustrated.

cheers

walter

Earlier this year I sent a 180mm ED Nikkor for a chip. Rolland did a beautiful job, which works perfectly, and shipped the lens as promised in two weeks. He gets my vote.

Rolland is not big on in-the-process communication, i.e., inquiries regarding "how much longer will it be?" I think that he experiences delays related to getting the metering chips, and as soon as he gets them he does the work conscientiously as quickly as he can. Nikon is, of course, notorious for slow delivery of parts, and I can imagine that getting some of these chips can take a long time.

 

I think that if you send a lens or lens mount to Rolland, you simply have to accept that it is likely to take a good long while for the work to get done. There are a few photographers who have had negative experiences with Rolland, and you should be aware of this. But I do not think he is in any way dishonest, and at this time I still think he's the only person doing this kind of work.

I sent a 400 3.5 lens mount to him 3 weeks ago. He has been fairly responsive and has answered his phone everytime I called him. It is still under the 3-4 weeks turn-around time and will update you when I receive it. So in short he is still doing this work and as far as I know the only one who does it.

Regards

My 400/3.5 is at Rolland right now, and unfortunately I can confirm that he's extremely hard to communicate with, and you should just forget about fast turn-around time.

 

The whole thing started in early November, after he confirmed in e-mail that yes, he can do the upgrade in about two-three weeks (this is very important for me, since I leave the US in early December). By the way, before I sent him the lens, he always replied promptly to my e-mails. I sent him the whole lens (I could not take off the mount with the tools I had) and the extra $30 he asked for shipping/handling for the whole lens, but he did not pick it up at the post office for a whole week. Then he sent me an e-mail exactly a week ago, saying hat he's working on it, and will ship it back that day or the next. I haven't heard from him since that time, I have no idea if the lens had been shipped or not (I've sent some mails, but as usual, no reply), and I'm starting to get anxious, since if he doesn't ship the lens by Friday, I'll be in big rouble.

 

I hope it will work out, and I really appreaciate that he's offering this service for a really reasonable price, but I for one would happily pay twice this amount for better communications and faster work.

 

I will post my experiences here after my story ends (soon, hopefully), and I'm more than willing to give him a raving feedback, it's really a great thing to have the possibility of "reviving" old lenses in a simple and not too expensive way!

Between a friend and I, we have sent Rolland four lenses for chipping in the past year. The work was excellent, everything worked as it was advertized. Turnaround varied from two to five weeks. Some delay was caused by waiting on the proper chips from Nikon, and I also believe he is a busy photographer. Bottom line, I'm happy with the work.

I just got back my lens from Rolland, and it's working great.

 

So in summary I'm absolutely satisfied with his work, but communications ("customer support") could be much, much better.

 

Thanks Rolland!