Ive been out of the game for a few years now but I used to shoot a lot of film and had an old Nikon D90 back in the day so I'm not a total newbie when it comes to manual settings and the exposure triangle but looking at current gear is making my head spin. My sisters baby shower is coming up in late September here in Chicago and I really want to get something better than my iPhone for the portraits since shes expecting me to take the "good" photos lol.

The catch is my budget is super tight right now and I cant really go over $500 for the body and at least one lens. I was looking at the Sony a6000 because everyone says mirrorless is the future but then I see older Canon DSLRs like the 80D or even a 5D Mark II going for cheap and I'm wondering if I'm better off with the older pro tech or the newer entry level stuff. I'm mostly worried about autofocus speed and how it handles low light indoors without a massive flash setup since I want to keep it low profile.

Does it even make sense to buy a DSLR in 2024 or am I gonna regret not having an EVF and the eye-tracking stuff the newer mirrorless bodies have?...