Film or Digital?
Digital cameras didn't exist when I started in photography. In the late 90's my manager purchased the first digital camera I ever used, I'm not sure of the make and model, possibly a Kodak which used a floppy disk for storage.
Fortunately I missed the DSLR phase of camera evolution, so didn't get cought up in the "must have the latest" craze, and saved a lot of money. I purchased the best Lumix compact camera I could afford and took it everywhere.
Eventually I purchased a Nikon mirrorless camera which I was very happy with but had the usual hate reviews. The image quality was good, the lenses were good, and I could use free editing software.
But after a while, and several expensive purchases later, I realised this system was not for me. I'm a very technical person but I do not want to learn some ludicrus menu system, or just fiddle around with auto-focus, I just want to take photos. So everything was sold, a lesson learnt, and a return to film (almost).