UKC

My son has always been keen on photography and has a really good eye for a shot, especially when walking, climbing and mountain biking. He even stops to take pictures on downhill sections of red routes, and uphill sections of mountain walks, which is good because it lets me catch up with him a bit.
However, he has always just used a really cheap digital camera, or the one on his mobile. He would now like to get something that gives better quality shots, and allows him a bit more control over the process. It's got to be pretty light and compact, because he won't lug around a DSLR, fairly simple to use, because he doesn't believe in reading instruction books, and also reasonably priced; I was thinking around the £200 mark, or if possible less. Any suggestions on something that fits the bill would be gratefully received.

In reply to Guy Hurst:

Canon EOS-M series.

In reply to Guy Hurst:
It may not suit your son, but there seems to be a bit of interest amongst the youth in retro camera effects. My son has recently dug out my old Minolta analogue SLR and has enjoyed using that. The only problem there is that he takes pictures like he's still using his phone, then can't afford the processing! Now my daughter has expressed an interest in getting an old camera because she likes the kinds of vignetting effects that are popular with Instagram users and thinks they could be fun on real prints.

If you do go down that road there are loads of interesting items available via the usual used outlets for very reasonable prices. I'm trying to buy an old Yashica rangefinder compact at the moment, and I'm getting my daughter one of those lomography plastic cameras for Christmas.

In reply to Bob Kemp:

Nice thought, but although my son is into retro stuff, its usually for display purposes only, unless it actually works as well as new gear and is just as compact. I reckon an old SLR would get left on the shelf.

The EOS-M cameras look good, but they're a bit budget busting.

In reply to Guy Hurst:

How about one of the Canon G or S series cameras?

I bought a second hand Canon S90 and was very impressed with the image quality compared to my then Nikon D50 DSLR.

I'm sure you could pick one of those up relatively cheaply on eBay.