I started doing photography over the pandemic, I started with a 2009 dslr, because that’s what I had lying around.
Because I did not even know how to expose a photo, it was great, and it felt like it did everything I wanted. I was very used to the layout, the functions, and although it was only 12MP, it took some of my favourite photos. All with lenses worth <300$.
Later I received a new mirrorless, 4K shooting, 24MP camera. I changed brands, So some of it is on me, but I had to buy new lenses as well. Getting new $150 lenses was not possible, and it felt wrong to put $150 lens on a $2000 camera.
So I got a few lenses to match. Not only that, but my 2012 MacBook Air was not able to run the latest Lightroom, and the older Lightroom version I had was not able to decode the new raw image format.
So I had to get a new computer as well.
All in all, a gift, that although is very much appreciated, cost me a lot more than the gift itself.
I have no regrets now, the newer sensors, the better tracking, the better lenses, all allow me to take much better photos. But if I would have stayed with my old camera, I would have never known what I was missing.