Digital Camera Recommendation Please

OK, which digital camera is recommended for multi-use

- normal pictures
- occasional eyepiece/prime focus astrophotos of planets etc.

fitting the following requirements:

- 2 Megapixel or better (don't need 6)
- under $500 or so
- straight forward operations and meaningful menus - often used stuff should be easily accessible (some cameras are a total mess, even with an engineering degree they are next to impossible to figure out)
- shutter time somewhat controllable for astro
- easily and firmly attachable to a telescope
- good picture quality
- Generic FlashCard or MMC, not some proprietary stick for
memory
- Rechargable battery with reasonable life span (preferred, not required)

Thanks!

Hinrich

The CoolPix 4500 would be a good choice for occasional
pix of moon and planets. I've used it with OK
results. However, to get truly great pictures you
need something like a web-cam that can take 30+ pictures
per second. The CoolPix seems to be limited to about
1 picture per second, which is just not fast enough.
The Great Pictures seem to result from taking hundreds
(thousands) of images and stacking only the best ones,
and the CoolPix 1 picture per second is a fairly
severe limitation in this game.

On the positive side, it does meet your requirements,
and is easy to use and takes great "normal" pictures.

I have a Nikon Coolpix 995 (predecessor to the 4500) which works fairly well for a multi-use digital camera. I've also used a friend's Coolpix 4500. The menus on both cameras are a big hastle in my opinion and the battery life is only so-so. These cameras also have a slow processor so the camera is quite slow to operate. The only real advantage these cameras have over competition is the internal small diameter lens which makes fitting an eyepiece to it easier. That advantage isn't as great these days since there are a large variety of eyepiece/ digital camera adapters available to suit most cameras. If I had a choice of buying a camera new it would be the Canon Powershot G3 rather than the Nikon Coolpix series. I've had a chance to use one and the camera is lightning fast compared to the Coolpix cameras. The lens is also of better quality than the 4500. Finally, the battery lasts about 2 hours longer than on a Coolpix 4500.

Joplin

Here's a picture with my canon powershot S400

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