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I'm running up against the limits of what I can achieve in terms of model photography with the use of an ancient HTC phone camera and a Foldio, so I'm wondering if anyone can recommend an affordable camera(the more affordable the better) that gives decent results? I don't need some gigantic telescopic DSLR monstrosity or anything, I'd just like to be able to take pictures that don't come out really grainy even at max resolution.

EDIT: In the UK/EU.

Budget? I have a Nikon Coolpix L820 and it's not terrible. Lighting is the harder part. I think I maybe paid $140-150 for it? I don't recall. Not a DSLR at all, but has a decent zoom/macro settings.

Also, using a program like GIMP to adjust elements in the photo makes it's 10x better.

EDIT: For the price, honestly you could upgrade your phone. A lot of phones actually take fantastic pictures too. Something to consider.

You don't need an expensive camera. I use a Canon A470. Was about £50 and it serves me fine.

I do have a £30 large light tent, two £30 6500K studio photo lamps and a tripod of unknown Japanese manufacture that I inherited from my late father. It must be about 50 years old now.

Anywho, the most important bit of kit is the tripod. If you have that, a decent pair of lights (or strip daylight work lamp) and a bit of white paper you can take photos good enough to work with in photoshop / gimp.

Don't expect to take great photos straight off the camera - I *always* have to adjust brightness / contrast to get the image to look like the models.

Is upgrading your phone an option?
You can take plenty good pictures with a modest handset these days if you take care to control the lighting correctly.

do you have a London Camera Exchange near you? IE look at the 2nd hand market - that's where I got mine from & my pics aren't bad (& my camera's ancient). Spend the rest on lighting eg: https://www.amazon.co.uk/PhotoSEL-LS11E21-26-40cm-Tabletop-Lighting/dp/B004DW8346/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&qid=1497470792&sr=8-23&keywords=studio+lighting+kit

Nikon Coolpix are just fine for minis, you can get a refurbished coolpix L32 for well under $100 USD or new for under $150 USD, I'd imagine it's priced similar in the UK. I took my chances and bought a used one off ebay about 4 years ago for $30 USD and it worked fine. Anything with a Macro feature will be plenty, just check into making your own light box.

Or even better, upgrade your phone, as they've said. I got an LG G4 phone a couple years ago and the camera is so much better and more convenient than the Nikon that I got rid of the camera, and that phone is 2 generations old now. You could also get an Amazon Fire tablet, the cheapest one is $50 USD (I think it's also £50, no discount for exchange rate) and comes with an OK camera, plus you get a cheap tablet out of it too!

Note re macro: I've found I get much better results by setting up a little further away & zooming in. You cut down the parallax error:
With macro (see how the perspective is increased - the guys at the back look tiny):


another example (not taken with my current camera):


With zoom (also more of the mini is in focus):

Yep, I do the same. Macro settings, but tend to use the zoom a good bit.