Photography is one of my top hobbies. Some people will tell you to just buy any decent cheap camera and start taking photos. But to me the research is one of the most important and enjoyable part. I love reading various reviews and watching YouTube videos. Also I follow some photographers like Von Wong (https://www.vonwong.com/) and learn a lot from them.
Now photography can be very expensive hobby, there was a time when I was buying every single lens, gadget, gizmo recommended/used by these amazing photographers. But the good news is that it is very easy to sell and buy used photography gear. Sometimes I even made money when I sold used gear after trying it out for a few months.
Lately, I use x100f which is a mirrorless camera. My previous camera was a dslr, D750. Professional reviews will show D750 is way better camera than x100f. To me the best feature of x100f is all the knobs and handling. Sometimes you have to try out camera for a few days to see how you feel about it.
Image quality is almost indistinguishable between modern cameras. Autofocus speed and low light performance is where you will notice huge differences between entry level and high-end cameras.
I say read a lot, borrow your friends' cameras, try them out in stores, watch videos like: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fujifilm+x100f Finally, when you buy a camera from store, don't feel shy about returning it if it doesn't click with you :) If you buy used, sell it if you don't like it. Also kit lens is usually not that good. First lens I would recommend on any camera system would be fast lens like 35mm/50mm/85mm f/1.8.