Nelson Photo & Video

I had an outstanding experience at Nelson Photo in San Diego. I came in with an issue on my Panasonic S5 II, and between the Nelson Photo team and the Panasonic representative, my problem was completely solved in under 30 minutes. Truly impressive service. I’ve been a customer for over 10 years, and Nelson Photo has always taken great care of me. Larry and Nancy, the previous owners, were fantastic, and I’m happy to say the new management is absolutely incredible. They go above and beyond to serve their customers and genuinely care about the people who walk through their doors. It’s rare to find a camera shop with this level of expertise, efficiency, and personal service. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome and highly recommend Nelson Photo to anyone looking for knowledgeable, trustworthy, and customer-focused service.

5 STAR review. Jack and the team are awesome and quickly helped fix every issue and problem today. Thanks again Jack and the team, you’re all awesome! Shoutout to the workers for being super sweet and friendly!

Not your photographers photography store. Good place to go if you need to buy film or know exactly what you need/want and did all your own research in advance. Inventory is decent. All new. No used. Check out George's for a better experience.

Super great experience at Nelson!! Jenna was awesome, she helped walk me through different models of cameras since I'm fairly new to photography, she let me hold them and explained different lenses, pros/cons etc and provided online resources that I could check out to really narrow which camera I may want to purchase. Couldn't recommend Nelson enough! Thanks Jenna 🙂

Not sure what the value is in a retail camera shop at this point. Called to ask about returns as I wanted to make sure my Fuji setup all fit in the bag I’d purchase. I could’ve purchased many places online, but figured I’d come down and just pick one up if it was all the same. They said as long as it’s unopened and has tags on and such. I bought two sizes of the bag, brought it home, tested and found one of them was perfect and one didn’t fit enough gear. Came back the next day to return and got stonewalled… all sales final, but they’d make an exception to give me store credit… I don’t know who you talked to, but we can’t do returns. Well me either, but whoever answered the phone gave the go ahead. All sales final is posted in the store - I was aware, so that’s why I called to double check unused equipment wouldn’t be a problem. Now I have store credit to a store I wouldn’t prefer to shop at or develop film.. blah.

I went in on 12/21/25 to buy a canon 200-800 r series lens and the employees tried to sell me a demonstration model without telling me. The only reason I noticed was I saw her go over any grab it out of the case and try to re box it. When questioned on what my she was doing she said that it is company policy to do so and that there was no manager to speak to. I would have been fine buying a floor model but they denied any compensation for doing so. I don’t think it’s right to sell a demonstration model for new prices especially since it has been handled by many people. I will not be returning here and will take my business elsewhere

I’ve had a consistently frustrating experience with the rental side of Nelson Photo & Video. On multiple visits, the staff member I interacted with came across as very stern and inflexible, which made what should be a straightforward process feel unnecessarily difficult. On one occasion, I needed gear for a same-day shoot and found out they don’t accept debit cards for rentals. I scrambled, went elsewhere, obtained a credit card, and even had a temporary card number emailed to me—only to be turned away because they require a physical card, despite the urgency of the situation. I understand policies are policies, but the lack of flexibility or customer-focused problem solving was disappointing. As a working photographer, reliability and support matter, and unfortunately the rental experience here hasn’t met that standard for me.