A friend recently asked “Do you have any suggestions for a high quality, but not over the top, camera for my wife? I would like to get one for her birthday. Good battery life is particularly important. Not too bulky.” My response was as follows…
I like the Canons myself. The Elph line is small and sexy but may have fewer features and a smaller battery than bigger cameras. It fits nicely in your pants pocket or a purse though, and I don’t recall ever having issues with battery life. (How many features is she looking for?) A step up is the PowerShot line, which is a little bigger, more feature rich, and more economical if that makes a difference. I noticed the battery life on my PowerShot is short, but I’m pretty sure that started happening after I hacked the firmware. (Being able to hack the firmware is a nice feature in itself.) You can get a Digital Rebel SLR for not much money and they’re not overly bulky. If I don’t use the on-board flash on my T1i the camera battery lasts for very long time. You know your wife’s tastes better than I, but I would lean towards a Rebel for features or the Elph for small and sexy. Hope that helps!
-Josh