Newbie seeking help!

Hi, just a short post here......im new to astronomy and need some help.
what equipment would i need to view nebuale and other deep sky objects other
than the stars you view with naked eyes. I have seen many colour photos on
net and in books and gather you need some video camare or long exposure film
to do this, is this correct? also any websites on where in the sky i will
find the obersvable planets are...im pretty good with contelations but have
no idea when it comes to planets. any help would be greatly
appreciated...myles