Meet Dilish Parekh and his World Record-holding collection of around 4,500 cameras

 

 

There are collectors of all kinds: stamps, coins, baseball cards and many more objects. Dilish Parekh of Mumbai, India is a collector of cameras. However, he is not just any collector, but rather he owns the World Record for the world's largest collection of still photography cameras. The photojournalist has been collecting cameras since 1970 and his massive collection includes cameras from as early as 1860. How many cameras does he have? Nearly 4,500 of them.

What started as receiving old cameras as gifts from his grandfather has now become something of an obsession and hobby for Parekh. For a while, it wasn't a particularly expensive hobby either, with Parekh and his grandfather never purchasing a camera for more than around US$15. His collection does include some valuable cameras though, including a Leica 250, which can sell for as much as six figures in the right condition, but often sells for between $12,000 and $16,000.

There are some quirky cameras as well, including a camera that looks like a lighter, a watch camera and a rope-triggered camera. Parekh says, "You name the camera and I have it." As he continues to break his own record, he welcomes challengers, but he has no intentions of slowing down so any prospective collectors have a lot of catching up to do. Don't bother trying to pry any of Parekh's cameras from his collection, he's not interested in selling. Be sure to watch the video below to see some of his collection.

It's not mentioned what his collection is worth in terms of money, but it's clear that whatever monetary value it might have, it's worth far more sentimentally to Parekh. As he said, his cameras are his life.

(Seen via PDN Pulse)