Find the best small digital camera either for yourself or for someone else for a birthday or Christmas gift. Depending on the unique needs of the person, I have found a variety of the best digital cameras available. My focus is on the small, compact, easy to shoot cameras. 

Relax at home and shop online from my recommended picks. I have done the legwork to make it easier for you!

 I am a huge fan of the Canon PowerShot Digital ELPH series camera.  Since I have owned the PowerShot SD20, shown above, for about five years now, I can say with confidence that I would buy a Canon camera again from their ELPH series.

It has delivered amazing results and has been so easy to use.  My husband is heavily into photography and has many 35 mm cameras.  He absolutely loves this little Canon and has taken such great pictures with it.

The PowerShot SD940 IS is the newest camera in the series and is packed full of new technology and options.  It is a 12.1 megapixel with improved smart auto mode and 720 HD movies.  It has face detection auto focus, motion detection technology, blink detection and image stabilization.  Wow!  If my Canon SD20 wasn't still holding up so well I would be buying this newer version!

 Here is a perfect camera for the outdoor enthusiast!  In fact, I am going to buy this one for my husband.  He is always taking our Canon with him on his hunting excursions and I'm always afraid it will end up falling in a lake our out of a tree stand.  This camera will be perfect for him.

The Pentax Optio W80 digital camera is totally adventure proof.  It is waterproof, dustproof, cold proof and shock proof!  It can withstand falls from over three feet and be submerged in water up to sixteen feet.  Oh, and while it's underwater, it can take underwater photos!

As if that weren't enough, it still is packed with all the features you would want in a digital camera.  It is 12.1 megapixels and has widescreen HD movie capabilities.  The face detection technology, shake reduction, and super macro mode for close focusing all make for superior pictures.  It even has an anti-reflective coating for helping with bright sunlight.

 When looking at all of the camera choices for teens I kept coming back to the Canon PowerShot ELPH series.  The SD1000 Model is less expensive than SD 940 and would be a great one to start out with.

If your are going to invest money in a camera to get a teen interested in photography, you don't want them to get discouraged by poor performance and bad pictures.  I made that mistake with my kids and the discouragement it caused was definitely not worth it.  Now that they have quality cameras, they enjoy photography immensely!