Dentist who filled all the cavities in his thousands-strong camera collection sets Guinness World Record

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Take an incisor look into the incredible camera collection of dentist, Dr Arun, who opened a museum to display his 5,707 cameras

A photograph of hundreds of compact cameras on shelves, captured within Dr Arun’s Camera Museum
Dr Arun’s Camera Museum is home to thousands of cameras (Image credit: Guinness World Records)

A dentist, Dr Arcot Vasantha Rao Arun, currently holds the world record for the largest collection of stills cameras, totaling a whopping 5,707 cameras. That’s according to record-breaking global authority Guinness World Records. Even Digital Camera World's Editor in Chief and resident camera collector, James Artaius, can’t beat that!

The story on the Guinness World Records website details how Dr Arun caught the collecting bug when he bought a twin-lens reflex camera in a flea market during the late 1990s. By 2017, the camera-loving medical professional had amassed nearly 2,000 cameras and opened Dr Arun’s Camera Museum in Chennai, India, to display his collection.

Turns out, that’s when things really started to snowball – first smashing the record for the world's largest collection of unique vintage film cameras (which stood at 895, until Arun beat it with 1,645), and then toppling the previous record for total cameras (4,425).

Make sure you check out the Guinness World Records’ video, which illustrates just how incredible an array of cameras Dr Arun has amassed – including models that date back as far as 1895.

Throughout the video you can see tens of antique large-format cameras, glass cabinets filled up with TLR cameras, row upon row of film and digital SLRs, and what must be hundreds (maybe thousands) of compact cameras.

Dr Arun, I salute you. What an incredible collection and an amazing slice of imaging history. If I ever visit Chennai, I know where I’m heading first!

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Want some historic cameras of your own? Check out the best film cameras. Into camera history? Is this the world's best camera museum? (Yes it is, and you have to go!). How about learning about a classic Nikon SLR: I love the Nikon FM2, it was only discontinued in 2001. And if you're looking for a camera rarity, Mama said I can't afford these $24,000 Lenny Kravitz Leica cameras. Well, I say, it ain't over 'til it's over!

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Mike Harris
Mike Harris
How To Editor

Mike studied photography at college, honing his Adobe Photoshop skills and learning to work in the studio and darkroom. After a few years writing for various publications, he headed to the ‘Big Smoke’ to work on Wex Photo Video’s award-winning content team, before transitioning back to print as Technique Editor (later Deputy Editor) on N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine.

With bylines in Digital Camera, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, Practical Photography, Digital Photographer, iMore, and TechRadar, he’s a fountain of photography and consumer tech knowledge, making him a top tutor for techniques on cameras, lenses, tripods, filters, and more. His expertise extends to everything from portraits and landscapes to abstracts and architecture to wildlife and, yes, fast things going around race tracks...

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