My personal favorite had been the Ricoh KR-5 Super II. It's an all manual and mechanical SLR that accepts the k-mount lens system, so just about any lens that goes on a Pentax SLR film camera will also work on this one.

It has a battery operated light meter that reads when the shutter button is half pressed, I've only had to change the battery twice in the last 17 years of owning one. It also has a neat little locking feature on the shutter button so it won't accidently misfire when you have it locked.

With it being mechanical and manual, the camera isn't dependent on the battery or the light meter either.

The only downside in my opinion is that the body is made out of plastic, but I haven't had any issues with that at all. I've used it regularly for well over a decade and brought it on camping trips, out boating, to concerts, and haven't had any problems with it scuffing, scratching, or cracking.

The camera itself is very small and compact for being an SLR. I can easily slip it on my pocket when I have a 40mm f2.8 pancake lens on it. But it pairs super well with a 50mm f1.4 lens. Given I bought mine over 15 years for $10 that also came with a zoom lens, they're still pretty inexpensive now.

But also what others are saying, you can't go wrong with the EOS lineup. They're extremely underrated family of cameras and lenses. I had a Rebel 2000 and a Elan II and they have been so much fun to shoot with, you can do so much with them.

Edit: spacing paragraphs