Death of a Coolpix

It seems that my coolpix 995 may have a fatal system error. The cost to repair exceeds my perception of the camera's value. So I'm looking for another digital camera to take it's place, one that can utilize accessories I have for the 995 like remote cord and 28mm threaded eyepiece. Any feedback on how the Nikon Coolpix 4500 works for astrophotography? Any other make digital camera that may be better?

Thanks,

mark

Mark, as far as I understood the 4500 was pretty much the same camera as the 995, with a couple of minor differences... (I remember looking at their specs a long while ago...)

You may want to consider the new D50.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D50/D50A.HTM

BTW, I believe that this post would be more appropriate for the Equipment or Nikon forums.

Dave Mitsky

I have a CoolPix 4500. It works OK for what it is. I believe some of the differences between the 4500 and the 995 are that the 4500 is 4 megapixel rather than 3, it has a magnesium frame rather than a plastic frame and that it has a few more options...

My own thinking would be that if you want to do astrophotography, now would be a good time to step up to a DSLR. Sell the accessories to your 995 and get yourself a Canon Digital Rebel, a lot more capable than the 4500.

For me, I like the 4500 for digiscoping the birdies, its tough to get that long effective focal length with a DSLR that one can get with the 4500 with a smaller refractor.

Jon

I've tried the Coolpix 4500 and TouCam for shooting
planets. TouCam wins hands down and is 1/3 the price.
I just can't get enough frames per second on the
Coolpix to make it worth the trouble.

Coolpix is good compromise for general shooting,
compact and lightweight for travel. It can
expose up to 5 minutes, but the detector noise
is pretty high. I would probably choose something
else if astro was high priority.