I have a Canon PowerShot SX420 IS. It cost about $400 on Amazon. I think that with Prime I got it for about $300. My light box was $40, also from Amazon Prime. There are better cameras out there but this one does me fine. A light box can make your smaller set-ups look very professional.
Good software is very important. I use Dynamic Photo HDR from MediaChance. It's absolutely incredible & makes blah photos look amazing.
Dynamic Photo HDR (https://www.mediachance.com/hdri/)
For example: Pic 1 is the raw shot of the light box. (Please excuse my messy shelf.) Pic 2 is the cropped close-up. Pic 3 is the final result using DPHDR.
(https://i.imgur.com/Cfo3lyt.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/lOimDjP.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/xe3ku6D.jpg?1)
DPHDR has many features that allow you to manipulate photo quality, from adjusting the original to adding effects. I haven't played with Photoshop much. A perhaps better example:
(https://i.imgur.com/y7639r5.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/sQ5TtvF.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/l6l1byC.jpg?1)
I'm not into a lot of specials effects; I just want decent looking photos. What you want for bigger set-ups is a light table, as you mentioned.