Canon Powershot A95. Better than the Coolpix 4500 in almost every way. I have owned two 4500s and an A95, so I can speak from experience here. Somewhere on Bird Forum I posted about the differences at some length, not sure where.
The A95 is out of production now but it's readily available second-hand, and shouldn't cost you much at all.
Advantages:
* Significantly faster
* Noticably better picture quality
* Better controls
* Takes cheap, standard rechargable AA batteries
* Much better battery life
* Flip-out screen swivels in all dimensions, not just one
* Can change settings without waiting for the damn buffer to clear
* Less pitiful manual focus (though still not great)
* More flexible control set allows you more choices
* Much lighter and smaller
* Uses proper CF cards, same as the CP 4500
* Much better CF write speeds and bigger buffer
Disadvantages:
* Rather flimsy - be gentle with it!
* No raw, JPEG only (but at this level of camera, who cares?)
* Not bad at macros, but the 4500 is better
* You need to buy the adaptor ring from Canon (About US$20)
All in all, the A95 is the best digiscoping camera I know of. The latest Canons are nowhere near as good, alas, so you need to find a second-hand A95.
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