Today's cameras are frankly so good you can shoot excellent photos with even point and shoot cameras provided that you master your camera and how it works. Also, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of your lighting. Strong lighting allows you to shoot without a tripod and at lower ISO's. Weak lighting and no tripod will ruin a photo every time.
Most of the time, I opt for strong, even lighting to keep things simple and not have keep changing the lighting between shots.
Page_1 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
The photo above was lit with one Nikon SB-800 flash mounted on the camera and pointed straight up at the white ceiling, and another on the floor pointed at the backdrop to give the sky a graduated effect. The camera mounted flash was used in "Master" mode which means that in addition emitting light, it controls other other flash as well. The lighting is nice and strong, the ISO is 400, and the f. stop is f.11. Camera was a Nikon D800 (36mp) with 24-70. f.2.8 lens. Camera in full manual mode.
A set up like that will cost you thousands of dollars. The good news is that you can shoot a photo that's indistinguishable from that one using a $500.00 camera $ lens kit, a tripod, shutter release and $40.00 hot lights. It just takes more time to actually shoot the photo itself because you have to use a longer shutter speed.
Exact same technique for the photo below.
The Good and the Bad in Dinosaur Valley 9 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
Afternoon at Kimono Station by Gary Menten, on Flickr
The above photo was shot using natural light streaming in through a partially open window blind. The difference is I used a tripod.
Page_3 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
Here the window light is faked by using one flash to camera left shooting through the louvers of an old air conditioner and anther mounted on the camera with a diffuser to provide fill light. The exact same effect can be done using cheap hot lights and either bounce lighting the fill or diffusing with an shoot through umbrella.
My point to all this is that you don't need an expensive camera to shoot great photos if you
A. Fully understand your camera, especially in manual modes and:
B. Remember that lighting is the single most important element in the photo. If your lighting is good, your photo will look good. If it is bad, you photo will look awful.