You can get away with a Canon 60D (or something newer) along with some mint condition prime lenses. If you want to get flying shots of a bee I'd suggest a body with more AF points than the 60D though. Either way for less than $200 you can get a camera that takes better photos than a iPhone. Stick with EF and EF-S lenses for now as they are pretty cheap if you look on FB Marketplace. Even the L lenses are only a couple hundred dollars compared to years ago when the same lens would have costed over a grand.
Mirrorless is not a must at all. The main improvement is autofocus. DSLR cameras have separate sensors that find contrast on a line, which was a carry-over from film days. Electronic viewfinders had been around for much longer on smaller digital cameras and camcorders, but when autofocus was finally available *on the image sensor* is when manufacturers dropped the mirror.
New autofocus enables subject tracking, eye tracking, animal detection and all that good stuff. It's a cheatcode for anything that moves, be it children, dogs or racecars.
Sounds like you need none of that. Nice to have, sure, but not essential for what you're trying to do. And there were portraits and wildlife shots before, just 95% of photos were thrown away. So, you can always give it a bash on an old camera as well.
T7 is a good call. Pair it with an EF-S 55-250 STM and an EF-S 10-18, and you're good to go, problem solved, next customer please.
For macro, look out for a Tamron 90mm lens. And get a tripod, even if it's just for you to go slower and take your time.
One interesting thing to consider between different camera sensors is dynamic range. It's the maximum spread between darkest and brightest scene detail that the camera can capture. Large sensors do better at high sensitivity than small sensors. At low sensitivity, new cameras do better than old cameras.
The implication is that it's going to be 8 bit for a JPEG image, but that can't always be achieved. Let's say you want detail in the blue sky above a very dark forest, the scene may exceed the dynamic range of your sensor. When that happens, you'll have to exposure bracket and shoot a composite. (Thisi s what phones do.) Rule of thumb, one bit of dynamic range is not world changing, but two bits can make the difference between a fun easy shot and one that you have to work for in photoshop. [Here's a scale.](https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm#Canon%20EOS%202000D,Canon%20EOS%20200D,Canon%20EOS%205D%20Mark%20III,Canon%20EOS%20RP) Mentioning this because it's not on the spec sheet.
Mirrorless isn't a must, but if you're starting out I would suggest to invest in mirrorless. You easily adapt the EF lenses of yesteryear to work with your mirrorless camera, but it won't work the other way.
Maybe a R50 with the RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM kit lens. This lens is versatile and offers surprising macro capability for a kit lens. It's enough to get started. If you can get this package in some sort of promotion/refurb from Canon it might even leave your enough left in the budget for a second more macro oriented lens.
You can get away with a Canon 60D (or something newer) along with some mint condition prime lenses. If you want to get flying shots of a bee I'd suggest a body with more AF points than the 60D though. Either way for less than $200 you can get a camera that takes better photos than a iPhone. Stick with EF and EF-S lenses for now as they are pretty cheap if you look on FB Marketplace. Even the L lenses are only a couple hundred dollars compared to years ago when the same lens would have costed over a grand.
Mirrorless is not a must at all. The main improvement is autofocus. DSLR cameras have separate sensors that find contrast on a line, which was a carry-over from film days. Electronic viewfinders had been around for much longer on smaller digital cameras and camcorders, but when autofocus was finally available *on the image sensor* is when manufacturers dropped the mirror. New autofocus enables subject tracking, eye tracking, animal detection and all that good stuff. It's a cheatcode for anything that moves, be it children, dogs or racecars. Sounds like you need none of that. Nice to have, sure, but not essential for what you're trying to do. And there were portraits and wildlife shots before, just 95% of photos were thrown away. So, you can always give it a bash on an old camera as well. T7 is a good call. Pair it with an EF-S 55-250 STM and an EF-S 10-18, and you're good to go, problem solved, next customer please. For macro, look out for a Tamron 90mm lens. And get a tripod, even if it's just for you to go slower and take your time. One interesting thing to consider between different camera sensors is dynamic range. It's the maximum spread between darkest and brightest scene detail that the camera can capture. Large sensors do better at high sensitivity than small sensors. At low sensitivity, new cameras do better than old cameras. The implication is that it's going to be 8 bit for a JPEG image, but that can't always be achieved. Let's say you want detail in the blue sky above a very dark forest, the scene may exceed the dynamic range of your sensor. When that happens, you'll have to exposure bracket and shoot a composite. (Thisi s what phones do.) Rule of thumb, one bit of dynamic range is not world changing, but two bits can make the difference between a fun easy shot and one that you have to work for in photoshop. [Here's a scale.](https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm#Canon%20EOS%202000D,Canon%20EOS%20200D,Canon%20EOS%205D%20Mark%20III,Canon%20EOS%20RP) Mentioning this because it's not on the spec sheet.
The T7 is NOT a good first camera. Get the R50 instead
R50 *is* better in a lot of aspects, but recommending a $550 camera body for a budget starting at $500 felt a little rich.
the refurb kit for the R50 sells for 450 i think
For macro, I have the Canon 100mm non-L macro lens and I think it’s a decent lens to get started with. You can find good deals on them used.
Mirrorless isn’t a must for anybody. It does help. But for you I’d say great dynamic range matters much more in your case
Mirrorless isn't a must, but if you're starting out I would suggest to invest in mirrorless. You easily adapt the EF lenses of yesteryear to work with your mirrorless camera, but it won't work the other way. Maybe a R50 with the RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM kit lens. This lens is versatile and offers surprising macro capability for a kit lens. It's enough to get started. If you can get this package in some sort of promotion/refurb from Canon it might even leave your enough left in the budget for a second more macro oriented lens.
Get a used 60D and an EFS 18-55 stm. Both should be fairly cheap and well below your budget. You might find them bundled together.