Battery Question - Camera for Teenager

DerbyDad03 wrote:
She found a slim-profile camera that she likes which uses a Lithium
Ion pack that must be recharged by placing the camera in it's base and
plugging the base into a wall outlet. There is no option to simply
drop a couple of AA batteries into it.

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

Ask five people and you will get 10 different opinions. It is an ongoing
religious war if custom LiIon or standard AA are better. Both have
advantages and disadvantages, see DejaNews (nowadays Google) for
previous discussions on this matter and further details.

Your fear of running out of power might be somewhat mitigated by the
fact, that LiIon packs hold significantly more power than AAs and
usually last for several hundred photos. I don't even bring my charger
any more if I'm going out for a weekend or extended weekend. Although
the number of photos can very widely with camera model and shooting
habits, e.g. lots of flash or excessive use of the LCD and AAs as well
as LIIon will be drained fast.
But you can always get a second LiIon pack as a backup and for some
sizes you can even get a non-rechargable batterie as a backup.

jue