He managed. It wasn't pretty.

Just pat him on the knee and say, "There you go."

Re: proprietary batteries

hobbitt got his latest camera some time back. Proprietary battery. No worries, right? As he likes to go on extended photo safaris, it seemed natural for him to order a second battery.
 
Except it wasn't available for purchase in US for almost a year after he bought the camera. He doesn't do frustrated very well.

Has anyone checked out the new Nikon J1? I saw a commercial for it last night. It fits in your pocket, but apparently you can change lenses.

It's evil. 

thread killa!
No, I haven't.

Has anyone checked out the new Nikon J1? I saw a commercial for it last night. It fits in your pocket, but apparently you can change lenses.

This is also—in case anybody's teetering on the edge—a reason to go DSLR over point-and-shoot or super zoom.  That large body means a huge battery: my old (five or six years—ancient) Nikon D70 will take a zillion shots on a charge.  I don't know how many exactly, but I know that pretty intensely photographic road trips of up to a week don't burn through both of my two (proprietary) batteries. . . .

My main objection to the nonstandard battery is the worry if not reality that I'll get stuck without charged batteries, and can't just pop into the 7-11 for some Rayovacs. In practice that rarely happens but I'm nervous that way. I myself want to get a G12 or s100 and the battery thing isn't going to change that. I just thought it would be important to point out.

My main objection to the nonstandard battery is the worry if not reality that I'll get stuck without charged batteries, and can't just pop into the 7-11 for some Rayovacs. In practice that rarely happens but I'm nervous that way. I myself want to get a G12 or s100 and the battery thing isn't going to change that. I just thought it would be important to point out.

Right. Eneloops are great. I'd recommend a good quality battery charger as well. This is not usually included with cameras that use AA batteries. 

So if we consider a high quality charger, Eneloops and spare Eneloops, a spare Litium Ion battery doesn't looks so expensive. However as you pointed out earlier, Eneloops will typically have a higher MAH rating as compared to the included Lithium Ion battery.

Both true, altho a healthy set of NiMH rechargeables will hold a charge quite a while longer than 3 weeks. Note the caveat "healthy." 
 
We like the Sanyo Eneloop batteries which are NiMH but they come pre-charged and hold a charge for years. 

One disadvantage to most AA rechargeable batteries is that if you don't use your camera for three weeks, when you pick it up to use it the batteries are likely dead. Not true of lithium ion batteries. 

The included Canon batteries always look a little weak to me, but there are typically replacement batteries with a higher mha rating. 

WARNING!

The ELPH 100 et al use a nonstandard battery. You will want a spare, and can't just pop into the gas station and pick up spares. I've used another Canon that takes a little battery pack and it lasted all day, even if I didn't turn the camera off very often. But still, that's a lot different from having a camera that's absolutely no-worries.
 
I'd look for one that takes AAs. The one we got our daughter uses 2 AA batteries, and our S3 uses 4. The battery packs last longer per charge, sometimes, but the one for the 100 you're looking at seems a little bit light (1200 mA? That's like one AA).

So back to the drawing board. I'd say just stop into a store you like and see what they have. You can easily blow a lot of time trying to choose the perfect camera. 

I'm not real sure how much I would use the video, but I am assuming that most of the lower-end cameras come with that and if they don't have it,there also would be a dropoff in quality of photos —and not much benefit price-wise in dropping it?

The Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS 12.1 MP seems like it would work for me.  Seems like I should be able to get it for around $130.

The Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS 12.1 MP is thinner and has 5x zoom, compared to 4x zoom for the 100 HS, along with other upgrades, but reviews call the 100 roughtly comparable in a lot of areas.  The 300 HS would be around $190 or so. 

Just so many to choose from.  I want one that is easy to learn how to use in all aspects and is lightweight for travel. Most of my photos will be on vacations, and most would be outside, during the day. Would like ability, however, to take photos in low-light or at night.

Thanks for the help!

I just read review (Steve's digicams) on the IS and it sounds very similar to the ELPH.  I'm not sure of the salient differences.  The review said it is smaller than deck of cards, and the review for the ELPH said it was about the size of a deck of cards????

They are both small enough.  Maybe the IS is better. .