for use at autox events anyone can recommend a digital camera

 

Do you want compact or DSLR? Any idea of budget?

 

Make sure your camera has Aperture priority so you can control film speed.. also image stabilization will be key, and probably practice with shooting moving targets.

Whatever you get, image write speed will be important - a good burst mode with fast writing will allow you to capture a series of shots in hope of gettingthat one perfect picture. I like the high-speed SD cards, so you may want to look at cameras that use those... (Nikon, Canon, etc)

 

Minimal shutter lag is also very important. Also for autox you're going to want something with considerable zoom -- the more the better. So you're probably looking at a prosumer digital camera at the minimum. For example, the Canon S3 IS.

A digital SLR is the more pricey/advanced choice (starting around $700 I think). Good telephoto/zoom lenses for those can run into the thousands. You can make do with <$300 lenses as I do, but they leave you wanting more.

 

You could consider the Nikon D50 ($500-ish) or whatever Canon's bottom-of-the-line dSLR is and a cheap ($125-150) 70-300 mm lens. You'll need to bump the ISO up a bit to get reasonable aperture and shutter speed.

By the way, I'm an absolute fanatic about the D70/D70s' kit lens (18-70 mm). I bench tested it against my older primes and a more expensive zoom and my example compares favorably for geometric distortion, sharpness, chromatic aberration, and flare even after I turned it into a slinky (tripod fell over, ouch) and Nikon service fixed it for me.

 

I second the canon S2 IS or S3 IS. I myself have a D70 but unless you're willing to shell out major bucks, I'd reccomend a point and shoot for now.

 

I have the same Nikkor kit lens on my D200 and like it very much. I find it to be a fairly good all-rounder when it comes to landscapes, portraiture etc.