this was my first film camera and i picked it after doing a ton of research specifically because it's loud and heavy and i wanted something that felt old school, but it's also just the right amount of automatic with aperture and shutter priority. these are famously reliable with a big backlog of really cheap and great quality lenses to choose from. bodies w/lenses are easily found way less than $200.
my favorite part is the focusing screen--it is the brightest, clearest, most completely idiotproof manual focusing i've ever used in a camera. there's also a little indicator that tells you when you've loaded the film correctly and tells you how far through the camera it is so you don't have to worry about screwing it up! also, if you get your settings really wrong, if you're in one of the auto modes the camera will override you and pick the closest suitable setting to hopefully rescue the picture.
the xd11, xd-7, and xd-s are all the same camera with different names for regions--i got the xd-s just because it has a diopter and i have glasses, but the others are cheaper and easier to find.
