Is it worth getting a "real" camera if I am interested in outdoor photography? Not so much as in for just the photo's sake itself, but for illustrating stories about where I go. I have an iPhone 15 and its ok, but I think it could be a lot better. I just don't want to lug around a big heavy camera and a zoom lens or something (and I do see people doing that, albeit not for more rugged terrain). From what I have absorbed, it seems like a "mirrorless" camera can offer a more compact size than a traditional DSLR but maybe I'm wrong.
It's just nice to use the phone for pics because I use it to navigate and it works well for that, so I don't really want the hassle of having to have a separate device for photos and then having to transfer those photos over to my laptop, but I assume that can be done wirelessly now (I haven't used a digital camera since 2007 maybe).
I don't want to spend money I don't have to, can something be had for under 500$ that will take good outdoor photos? Especially if there's better optical zoom, the iphone cannot capture details especially of animals, it's terrible at that.