[faelon]

At that price point it will really depend on how new your current phone is. The latest iPhone and Samsungs both have phenomenal cameras in them. And since they are your phone you upgrade and replace them every few years anyway just as part of your normal life budget/CEL phone plan. Short of going to a nice DSLR that would probably be your best Camera option.

If your phone camera is good enough, your budget can be better put towards some basic tools. A small tripod and phone mount for it. A remote trigger. Some inexpensive LED lights. Maybe a small light tent/photo booth.

The point and shoot Camera’s are not going to give any real advantage over the phone. While they have some manual options, not really enough to justify it. Past using the phone ( and don’t take that in a derogatory way. You can do some amazing things with modern phones) you might eventually want a DSLR. As the lens and manual options give you a ton of easy creative control. Things like depth of field. Right now as I post this the sweet spot for most full featured yet cost effective hobbyist DSLR to my eye is the Cannon T6i. Which will drop into the mid $500’s on sale and performs comparably to the pro series Nikons and Cannons, in most environments.