@Toromino that's why i suggested the other options, like film SLRs, to start with.

unfortunately there is very much a spectrum. you can look for point and shoot cameras, but honestly it's going to take about 100 dollars to get a point and shoot camera with significantly more functionality than your smartphone.

if you don't want any advice or input, you can also just tell me, instead of leaving me to wander on to my fed timeline and see you ragging on me : /