[AmVess]

You aren't going to get a decent, fast prime for a few hundred dollars, much less an excellent one.

Apple's low light performance in their new phones is excellent, and they are making huge strides in every area with every generation. A minimum acceptable DLSR with an acceptable fast prime will cost $1k, which is also the cost of Apple's excellent pro iphone that will rival the quality of the former for the average user.

[marlor]

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is optically just fine if you stop down slightly, and the RF version is even better. It’s not much more than $100.

The Olympus 25mm f/1.8 is absolutely fantastic, and smaller. As are all the Olympus fast primes. You can get it for $250.

More expensive fast primes are worth the price for me. But the entry-level ones are optically pretty great these days.