Digital!

I answered this one not too long ago so Im going to paste that in here, : 

Id say any of the Canon Powershot G series

G1X, G16, G15 are all pretty great. You’re looking around $500 ish for those. Thats the down side to digital. Larger up front cost. Anything below those Id stick with iPhone. 

You can get some great cheap film cameras like the LC-A for around $200. Thats one of my favorite cameras. You can see the work I’ve down with it HERE. I haven’t shot it in a while because my Leica really filled that place in my camera set. 

Adding to my previous post, I would say the Sony Mirrorless SLR are pretty rad. Ive been shooting with the A7, probably too much for starting but the a5000 and a6000 have some good reviews. 

The digital camera review bible is really dpreview.com  they are so thorough its shocking. 

Hopefully that helps.