250D or 850D... or mirrorless?

I'm having exactly the same thought process with my 700D.

First the exif data shows that the image you posted was taken with the 55-250 mm STM lens which I recently bought new.. a very good kit lens but the 700D isn't a particularly good camera IMHO. My 650D has much better image quality than my 700D and my brothers 800D is similar as well.

The 850D is supposedly considerably better than the previous Canon models but frankly I dont think its good enough to justify the price tag.

From all I've seen the 250D (SL3) is a considerably better camera than what I'm currently using image quality wise. For video work I would look elsewhere.

One of the major issues I have with 700D is poor AF performance. With this model they brought in the new hybrid AF and its not great, they changed this in later models to AF with 19 points and it seems to be more reliable.

With all that in mind I'm looking at 3 options, the EOS 250D, the EOS M50 or the somewhat older EOS M6. At the moment the EOS 250 appeals because I already have lenses for it, but I do like the smaller lite weight mirrorless cameras as well.

I'm giving my 700D one last chance with an upcoming photography club outing to see if I can really get good images out of it and figure out the best method to do so.

Otherwise for me it will be a move towards the 250D, pricing is too prohibitive for me to go mirrorless right now.