Am I being overly cautious by thinking we should limit our choices to
those that use (eat?) AA batteries, especially for a 16YO?


Most camera's can take hundreds of pictures with a litium ion battery.
AA capable camera's are often larger.

Camera's with AA batteries do not have to be replaced once the battery goes
dead, just replace the AA's. For litium ion batteries by the time they are
gone
(few years), you probably will not bother to buy new litium ion batteries,
because
they are expensive (especially for an older camera), maybe not available.

Taking one or two spare set's of batteries with you and you know how much
power
you have left (fairly accurate). The indication for the litium ion is not
very lineair.
So with AA you know what you have left (outside the camera). And if you run
out
AA's are better available then any type of battery.

I think that AA is definitly a advantage over litium ion. (But the camera is
larger).
So choices being the same I vote for AA.

(My DSLR and my point and shoot both do not have AA capability, so I went
for
other features above AA. This to place the preverence for AA into a
perspective).

Ben