Photography - Best Camera

[footfootfoot]

CAtwoman,
This is a can of worms you've opened up. All I'll add to the mix is that I've owned dozens of cameras in my life, from the minox subminiature "spy camera" to a few different 8x10 view cameras.

As for manual 35 mm cameras, you'll probably want to go used for the best built cameras. Pentax K1000 early pre-china are indestrucible and parts are easy to come by, Nikon FM, FM2, Nikkormat, Ricoh, are all good inexpensive cameras.(relative to Canon F1 or Leica M series)

A big mistake that a lot of people fall for is dropping a lot of coin on a body and cheaping out on the lens. I'd rather have a Leica Noctilux mounted to an oatmeal box (well, a really flat, dimensionally stable, oatmeal box) than the latest EOS with some aftermarket lens.

It really is all about the lens. And after that, it's about a flat film plane.
I own an EOS 1N, a Nikon FM, and a Nikkormat FTN. I sold both my Leica M3s. The EOS I got for a photo job I needed to do, and it had all the bells and whistles that I needed at that time. I rarely use it for personal work. I can shoot so much faster with the Nikon FM, mainly because the shutter speeds and f:stops are in very handy places. i.e. on top of the body near the winder and on the lens, where they belong, for the f:stops.

I won't even go into the digital thing except to say they are perfect for "This is me in front of the Taj Mahal etc etc.

Good luck.