well - the rest of the lads have it covered for the "old school" cameras. I'd like to pitch in and recommend a nice Canon of the same vintage, as the
Canon FD lenses are lovely, however, most of the affordable bodies (
AE-1,
AE-1program,
A-1) are cursed with a problem known as "Canon Cough". It's treatable - and a A-1 that's had it's cough mixture is a lovely camera. I've got one
myself, and a
bunch of the FD/FDn glass that goes with it. But to recommend a Canon that's not going to wheeze like an asthmatic donkey when you press the shutter, or be a
horrendous square cornered plastic monstrosity, then it'd have to be a Canon
F1n, and they're big money for a clean and tidy one.
As you mentioned re-using your existing glass, there are a couple of options - the
EOS-3/
EOS-1v, which are pretty much like for like replacements for your 5Dii body (but with better AF performance - more like the 1D series!) - the EOS-3 is something like 30g lighter than the 5Dii, the 1v is 135g heavier. But - for a lighter and much smaller alternative, there is the
EOS-30V. It's around the same size as a 450D, and weighs around 2/3 of what your 5Dii body does. They also go for silly cheap money considering they are one of the last enthusiast level film bodies Canon made -
mine cost me the grand sum of £25, and didn't look like it'd ever had a film through it!
At the end of the day, most of the recommendations you'll get are from personal preference. The truth is, most of the 35mm SLR's mentioned in this thread are lovely bits of kit, and will all take great pictures if you know what you are doing with them. My honest advice, is to look for a system where the lenses you want are available at a price that's affordable - it's all about the Glass. What lenses you want, and what you consider affordable is down to you. At the end of the day, a film camera body is pretty much just a light tight box with a means of moving the film back and forwards, and a shutter. Metering will be a little more rudimentary than you're used to, but thats why God (or
the Flying Spaghetti Monster - bless his noodley tendrils) gave C41 and B&W film a 3 stop exposure lattitude.