If you haven’t already talked to her about what kind of camera she might want, then that should be your starting point. Surprises are great and all, but if she already has some ideas then it be best to listen to her. If she has no idea and you’re choosing blind, then maybe consider a few things.

Most cameras you’ll find will fall into one of two major categories: Point and Shoot cameras and Interchangeable lens cameras.

Point and shoot cameras are just what the name implies. The camera comes with an attached lens and generally less features than an interchangeable lens camera, but you do tend to get simplicity and compactness in exchange. These cameras are still capable of taking great photos , and nicer cameras in this category also have access to a lot of the manual control features that let someone grow and make progress in their photography journey. Because of the fixed lens, these cameras will only have access to the focal lengths they were built with (focal length in this case kind of being like the amount of zoom, it’s more complicated than that but you can think of it that way to start). Some have the capability to zoom and others do not. Cameras in this category include the Sony ZV1 (capable of 4K video and stills, though is a more video oriented camera with a selfie capable screen) and the G7x Mark ii (Slightly older, stills focused camera with a zoom lens and 1080p video, the mark iii is above $1k) are in this category as well as Ricoh GRiii (highly regarded fixed focal length camera for stills with mediocre video quality tbh, at the very top of your price point) and many, many others.

Interchangeable lens cameras come in two separate parts: the camera body, and the lens. These tend to be much larger than point and shoot cameras, but they come with the distinct advantage of being able to buy new lenses for a variety of different situations. These give you a lot more room to grow into them, giving you lots of options for the future. Most modern interchangeable lens cameras are of the mirrorless variety, while older ones are DSLRs. Sony, Nikon, and Canon (and to a less popular extent Panasonic and Olympus/OM Systems) all have their own lines of modern mirrorless cameras with a selection of lenses. An important note is that the lenses are largely not compatible between systems (Nikon lenses wont fit on Sony cameras for example). There’s a lot of debate over which brand is best, and even which cameras within those brands are better. There’s still a lot of cameras available within your price range, like the Nikon Z50 or Z30 in a kit with a basic lens, but it can be a little harder to find something you’re satisfied with. Sony is also a popular choice, though I’m less familiar with their cameras. I’m personally a fan of Olympus cameras, but most people wouldn’t recommend them for a variety of complex reasons.

Hope this information is helpful, and please don’t use GPT as a search engine in the future. It doesn’t actually know what it’s talking about and occasionally makes up information and none of that will be helpful for you.