Don't buy any camera you can't afford. If your film is going to put you in debt, it's a bad idea (and I'm speaking from experience on this). You can likely find a cheap video camera at a thrift store to get you started on your way. I'm dead serious. Why spend a bunch of loot on something if you don't know for sure you're going to want to continue with later ? There really is a lot of work involved. Most of your filming time is spent waiting around to film. Camera angles, lighting, sound all take time to setup. It gets very tedious very quickly (esp if your actors get fidgety and start thinking they could be doing something more interesting with their time than "wasting" it on you and your film.
A general rule of thumb on screenplays are one page= one minute of film time. I'd recommend trying something short and not too complicated to get your feet wet (again speaking from experience). You can always do bigger, better productions once you get a feel for it. Remember, more planning before is always better than not being prepared enough (you can add a fidgety crew to your fidgety actors at this point and you'll have a mutiny on your hands LOL). There's software available to help you map everything out for this. I'd say try it.
There are so many editing programs to choose from, I wouldn't know where to tell you to begin. I use a few for different things (esp fx). Download trial versions since I can't publicly condone downloading pirated software (<- hint, hint). It comes down to what you're most comfortable with in the long run. There is no definite answer for everyone.
Best advice I would offer is have a good time doing it and be sure everyone else involved does, too. Good luck !
CK
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