There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
If you decide that you'd rather just use automatic mode, then that will help guide the kind of camera you'll eventually want to buy.
I've been in the hobby for a while and my must haves for a dedicated camera are few: 1. Fully articulated screen (so I can stretch my arm out and get a cool angle on a shot and still see the display) 2. RAW shooting capability - so I can have greater quality when post-processing the image 3. Fully manual exposure control, along with aperture and shutter priority - because that's just how I like to shoot (with a live histogram)
When you're ready to pick a camera, don't go nuts and buy top of the line. Buy something that will help you decide what your preference for body and lenses are. You want a camera you can experiment with. An older Canon Rebel series with kit lens is fine, along with any of the other suggestions already made.
Since I'm not a pro and all current cameras and lenses are good enough quality, I tend to look more for usability and handling then image specifications. Just take a ton of pictures and have fun, the "film" is free!