The post “Is Nikon Professional Services worth it in the US? My honest take as a Platinum Member” is by Joseph Nuzzo (website | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | X):
If you’re a working Nikon shooter in the U.S., you’ve probably looked at Nikon Professional Services (NPS) and wondered:
“Is this actually worth paying for… or is it just a fancy badge and a hotline?”
I’ve spent the last year as a NPS Platinum member, and I recently put together a detailed video breaking down my real-world experience — the good, the bad, and the “wait… I paid extra for this?”
Watch the full video here:
This blog post is meant to go hand-in-hand with that video. My goal isn’t to bash Nikon or stir up drama. I’m still a Nikon shooter, and I still love their cameras and lenses.
Instead, I want to:
– Share what NPS Platinum has really been like for me here in the U.S.
– Point out where the program works
– And highlight a few ways Nikon could improve NPS for U.S. users
Because honestly, if no one speaks up, nothing gets better.
Before we dive in, let me be very clear:
I’m not anti-Nikon.
I’ve photographed the NHL, major New York City concerts, pop culture events, weddings, families, and real estate with Nikon gear. My work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and even on a concert t-shirt. On top of that, I run a YouTube channel and teach photographers how to use Nikon Z cameras.
So this isn’t coming from someone who’s angry and switching brands. I’m still shooting Nikon. I’m still teaching Nikon. I’m still recommending Nikon cameras.
And I know there are photographers out there who love NPS and have had great experiences with it. That’s fantastic. If it works for you, I’m genuinely happy it does.
This is simply my honest, year-long experience with NPS Platinum in the U.S., and some thoughts on how the program could better serve working photographers here.
If you’re new to it, Nikon Professional Services (NPS) is Nikon’s support program for working pros.
In the U.S., there are three main tiers:
– Pro – a complimentary (free) tier if you qualify
– Pro+ – a paid annual membership
– Platinum+ – the top paid tier (the one I’ve had)
On paper, the higher tiers offer things like dedicated NPS support, priority repairs, discounts on repairs and maintenance, a certain number of loaner cameras and lenses per year, faster shipping on warranty repairs, and, at the Platinum level, a free Nikon Mentors course and a one-time discount on new gear.
If you’re constantly shooting sports, news, or high-volume events, this sounds like a great safety net.
But as always, the details really matter — especially if you’re paying a few hundred dollars a year for it.
One of the first things I ran into is how NPS is billed in the United States.
Here, NPS works on a calendar-year billing model. If you sign up in January, you get the full 12 months of benefits. But if you sign up in December, you still pay the full price and only get that one month until everything resets on January 1st.
That’s rough. For a professional program aimed at working photographers, that feels more like a gotcha than a perk.
Now here’s where it gets interesting: in other regions — for example, Canada — membership is billed on an anniversary basis. If someone in Canada signs up on June 10th, their membership runs until the next June 10th. Simple. Fair. Logical.
I would love to see Nikon adopt that same anniversary-style billing for NPS in the U.S. as well. It’s a straightforward change that would instantly make the program feel more respectful of members’ time and money.
One of the big selling points of NPS, especially at the higher tiers, is access to loaner gear.
In theory, that’s a huge benefit. Need a backup lens for a big job? Want to try a body before buying? Need coverage while something is in for repair? Perfect — that’s exactly what those loaners are supposed to help with.
In practice, though, the shipping policy can turn that perk into a bit of a punishment.
Here’s what I experienced: Nikon requires you to pay for shipping both ways on loaner gear. They also require 2-day shipping. And if you’re not in the New York metro area, that essentially means 2-day air, not the cheaper ground options many of us would normally choose. For me, shipping a lens to and from Florida under that 2-day requirement worked out to around $400 total for a 14-day loan.
So just to borrow a lens for about two weeks, I’d be out around $400 in shipping alone — on top of the annual membership fee.
Now compare that to renting from a company like LensRentals.com. I can rent a similar lens for about $80 total, and that includes the round-trip shipping. That is a massive difference in cost.
I even tested it further by sending my own lens back to Nikon using ground shipping instead of their 2-day requirement. It arrived just one day later, and it was about $170 cheaper. So unless you’re in an extreme rush, forcing 2-day shipping (which, again, is effectively 2-day air for anyone outside the NY metro area) both ways doesn’t make a lot of practical sense — and it definitely doesn’t feel friendly to the member’s wallet.
Instead of feeling like a premium benefit, the loaner program can start to feel like an expensive obligation. A perk that should give peace of mind ends up adding financial stress.
The other major pain point for me wasn’t the gear itself — it was what happened when something went wrong behind the scenes.
Over the course of my year with NPS Platinum, my account was actually suspended twice. In both cases, the root cause wasn’t that I’d done something wrong; it was due to internal issues on Nikon’s side — things like a misrouted return inside their building or how a shipping charge was handled. Eventually, those problems were sorted out, but the process of getting there was anything but smooth.
When your account is suspended, you suddenly find yourself locked out of your benefits. You log in expecting to manage a loan or request support, and instead, you’re staring at a message that your account is suspended with no clear, friendly “Here’s how to fix this” path in sight. There isn’t an obvious phone number or direct email right in your account portal that says, “Hey, if there’s a problem, contact us here and we’ll get you back up and running.”
For a program you’re paying extra for, that’s a rough feeling. You don’t feel like a pro being taken care of — you feel like you’ve been shut out of your own membership.
To be fair, I did eventually reach people at Nikon who helped resolve these situations. But what was missing throughout the process was a simple sense of ownership and empathy. A straightforward, “We’re sorry this happened, this one’s on us, and here’s how we’re going to prevent it going forward,” would have gone a long way.
Mistakes happen. Packages go to the wrong department. Systems glitch. That’s life. But how a professional support program responds when things break is a big part of the value you’re paying for. And in my experience, that’s an area where NPS in the U.S. still has room to grow.
Am I Leaving Nikon Over This?
Nope.
Despite everything I’ve just described, I’m not leaving Nikon.
I still love their cameras. I still love their lenses. I still teach the Nikon Z system, and I still recommend Nikon gear in the right situations.
What I am questioning is whether NPS Platinum, as it stands today in the U.S., makes sense for how I work.
For me, the calendar-year billing feels unfair, especially when other countries get anniversary billing. The 2-day shipping requirement — which effectively means 2-day air if you’re not in the New York metro area — turns a helpful idea into something that’s often too expensive to justify. And the account suspension and support issues made the overall “pro” experience feel a lot less professional than it should.
So no, I’m not dropping Nikon. But I’m also not rushing to renew my paid NPS tier. For now, the free Pro level may be more than enough, and I’ll be watching closely to see if Nikon makes changes to better support photographers in the U.S.
I want to emphasize this again:
The point of the video — and this blog post — is not to trash Nikon.
It’s to say:
“Hey Nikon, a lot of us love your gear and want to stay in your ecosystem. Here are some ways you could make your pro support program truly shine — especially here in the U.S.”
Things like:
– Moving from calendar-year to anniversary billing in the U.S., like in Canada
– Offering more flexible shipping options for loaner gear — including realistic ground options when timing allows
– Improving communication and access to support when something goes wrong
These are realistic, achievable changes. And they would make NPS feel much more like the pro-level support system it’s meant to be.
If no one ever speaks up, nothing ever improves. I’d rather be part of the group that raises concerns respectfully and constructively.
This post hits the highlights, but in the video I go much deeper.
I walk through my actual customer service experiences. I talk more about the different NPS tiers and who might benefit from them. I compare real numbers on shipping vs. renting. And I show how some of the communication played out.
If you’re thinking about joining NPS — or upgrading from the free tier to Pro+ or Platinum+ — I really recommend watching it before you decide.
Watch the full video here:
I’d love to hear about your experience too.
Have you had a great experience with NPS? Have you run into similar issues? Are you in a country where the billing or benefits are handled differently?
Drop a comment under the video and let’s talk about it. The more feedback Nikon hears from real working photographers, the more reason they have to refine and improve the program.
And if you’d like more Nikon Z content, tutorials, and real-world gear talk, come hang out on my YouTube channel:
Visit my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ShutterSpeak
Thanks for reading, thanks for watching, and thanks for caring enough about this stuff to want it to be better — not just for yourself, but for the whole Nikon community.
Why I’m not renewing Nikon Professional Services (and why you might not want to either)
