Went to my local auction house Friday night and scored a camera lot
which included: Nikon FE with motor drive and Tokina 55-200 zoom; Ricoh
KR5 with f/2.2 55mm and a third party 200mm, "Honeywell" Pentax (from
the old days before Honeywell stopped being the importer and they put
Asahi on the front) Screw Mount with Takumar 50mm f/2. There was a Fuji
camera that was broken but I harvested the 50mm lens from that which is
a screw mount and fits the Pentax, and a Minolta SRT202 with Minolta
50mm f/1.7. The Ricoh and Pentax seem to work mechanically, the Minolta
is probably going to the trash (but I'll keep the lens). Also a broken
Weston Meter and a host of other ancillary crap, and two cases (both
trashed). The Nikon FE, with the help of two batteries for the camera
and 8 AAs for the motor drive, works flawlessly and I will keep it. Oh
yes... total for the lot was $25 plus buyer's premium.

Then I found another lot which happened to have misplaced in it the
instruction manual for the Nikon FE. It also had 4 P&S digital cameras
(all discarded without testing, as their age was so great my iPhone is
a better P&S), one partly broken Sony 8mm tape camcorder (discarded),
one soft camera bag (a keeper), and in the box a Hansa Enlarger with a
Graylab Timer. And also a Palm pilot for which I have absolutely no
use, and it connects only via old-fashioned serial ports. I wanted the
lot for the Nikon Manual and was the only bidder: at FIVE BUCKS.

I am keeping the Nikon (I tested the camera and it works, the meter
works, the motor drive works- only a test roll will tell me if the
shutter is accurate) but I tested the lens on my Nikon D5000 (which
accepts all Nikon/Nikon-compatible legacy glass) and it is fine.

I will be putting the extra SLRs and their lenses and the Palm Pilot up
on ebay. Anyone who wants to make an offer, let me know.
--
Michael