Need camera suggestions

[dullard]

I'm buying a camera for a Christmas present to replace a dying Canon A510. It'll be for someone from a family that loves photos and wants high quality over anything else. However, high end cameras are outside my price range.

The Canon A510 had great photo quality, but it has battery issues. You can put in a brand new (and warm) set of batteries and have it be unable to turn on due to low battery. So, I'd really like something that can take at least a few dozen shots from a new set of batteries. Also, it lacked the ability to always turn on the flash unless you went into full manual mode (and then it was difficult to focus).

What Camera would you recommend in the $100-$250 price range? I want something that is pretty much just point-and-shoot, but give the flexibility to turn on or off the flash on any given photo. The camera will more likely be used for close-up shots (ie a foot or closer) than for far shots, but a large optical zoom would be nice. Something that has better night shot capability than the A510 would also be good.

I was looking at the Canon A590 but then I realized that I have no idea what the true differences are between the various similar models. I don't care at all about things like megapixels, LCD size, or camera size.

 

[Cable God]

Just got my Canon SD990 IS, and have to say, it is awesome. A bit over your $250 price range, but NewEgg has it with the 8GB card and case combo for ~$330. It is an awesome point-and-shoot.

 

[bludragon]

Canon A590 IS is probably one of the best value cameras right now. That, or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8 would also be good.

There's a good article here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408budgetgroup/
Also, look here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1227637199.html

Stepping up from there, an SD880 IS (same sensor size, more pixels) and then SD990 IS (bigger sensor size and even more pixels) would be worth considering. The powershots are very nicely pocket sized, and also should have faster flash re-cycle time as they come with an Li-Ion battery.

For a bigger zoom range, the panasonic TZ-5 is supposed to be pretty good.