Gotta love that undertone of jealousy:D
Personally, I live by ‘buy the gear that lets you grow in your new hobby’. You don’t usually need to buy the most expensive item, but you certainly should not buy the cheap shit either.
Take photography for example. You don’t need a $5000 pro camera to get started, but at leat something better than a simple point and shoot would be preferable to start. Like a decent prosumer DSLR. That way you can learn manual photography, how to edit raw, you can experiment with lenses, etc.
I’ve never once regretted buying better gear than I needed. I’m still thanking past me for investing a bit more in things that are still useful to me today.
You really don’t need to start out with a DSLR either though. A Micro Four Thirds body is plenty decent for a beginner, and these days the range of lenses is great.
Well the point is more: get something that doesn’t just shoot jpg in only auto modes :D
I’ve personally never owned an MFT. I went from Canon Digital Ixus to a Canon 350D DSLR. I recently made the jump from a 6D to an EOS R8 system.
The one thing I’d caution about buying MFT for beginners would be crop factor if you plan to shoot wide things. And low light performance. You’d really want a bigger sensor if you plan to use those nice, wide, big lenses. I shoot full frame because of that, but APS-C sensors would be a reasonable compromise. Basically when it comes to sensors: bigger is usually better.
MFT and APS-C both have full manual modes. But okay, I guess just fulfil the meme? A DSLR is overkill for almost all beginners, and this sort of advice pushes people out of hobbies they might enjoy.