Going to buy a digital camera for a mothers day present for someone who has basic experience with digitals. What should I get if I wanted to spend less than 200?

Basically going to be used around the house, vacations, family reunions, etc...

Hey Dylan!! My name is Olivia and am new to this forum.I was just going through the discussions and thought of helping you with your dilemma since I recently bought one.Are you looking for some special features?Nikon and Canon are doing really good these days.I recently bought a Canon Powershot S5 digital camera from a comparison site called Checkcost.co.uk.Though I browsed through a fair amount of sites but the best deal I got was at Checkcost since there were a lot of sellers to compare prices.You can check out the site and I am sure you'll get a good deal within your budget.And wish your mom Happy Mother's day.
http://www.checkcost.co.uk/search/Nikon/cat/69/ref/

Last year I bought a point and shoot camera for my fiance. I did alot of research, and I ended up buying a Sony W35. The models have naturally changed since last year, but I did find that Sony models had the best balance of price / image quality.

If you're looking for a DSLR, I would recommend a Nikon D40/D40x/D60. They are great cameras, and easy to use. One issue to consider is the cost of lenses, as the lenses can (and normally do) cost more than those camera models.

I bought my daughter a Canon A620 that was close to your price range and does an excellent job.

Yeah..no doubt that the 40D is really cool. But one thing that needs to be considered is the budget.But if you are willing to spend then the 40D is a master piece.

$200 US is a pretty spartan budget. I will say that the Canon Powershot S5 mentioned above is more camera than most people ever need, and beats the daylights out of the Nikon E995 that I paid $1000 for several years back.

I saw one used at Adorama for about your budget, and almost snapped it up myself, as the entire camera with 12X optical zoom is cheaper than a good tripod.

Bruce

Yeah..no doubt that the 40D is really cool. But one thing that needs to be considered is the budget.But if you are willing to spend then the 40D is a master piece.

yes, i 100% agree. but if you wait a while you'll get a 40D on Ebay. maybe Canon Ixus 70 is a good solution within your price range. one important advice: compare all prices more than once if you want to make sure that you really pay the best prices for digital cameras (http://www.wickedlens.com/) that are possible. Ebay and price comparison sites are always the best way to start.

this link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Frs%3D28 1052%26rh%3Dn%253A502394%252Cp%5F36%253A20000-49999%252Cn%253A281052%26bbn%3D281052%26low-price%3D150%26high-price%3D200%26x%3D9%26y%3D5&tag=photography%5Freview-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325) may help you find the one you want :)