Throwing your digital camera in the air at night, with the shutter set to a long exposure, is producing some nifty artwork. The Times (London) reports on the new craze: "Ryan Gallagher, a 28-year-old theatrical lighting specialist from Texas kick-started the trend last August. Unable to sleep one night, Gallagher took his low-grade digital camera and experimented by waving it at some city lights while set to a long exposure. So intrigued was he with the results that he decided to display them on Flickr." "Part of the addiction comes from the fact that the results are always a surprise," Gallagher said. "Each picture is like opening a little black box into a world we cannot see." Be warned, though, eventually you'll drop the camera, so don't use that new Canon 5D. An old VGA model is recommended.

Digital Camera Latest is still evolving, so all the features we announced at launch a week or so ago are not yet visible. One new feature shortly to appear is a series of How-To articles. They will not be published in the main blog column but will be shown in the sidebar as a permanent component of the site. The first couple of articles will appear in two or three days. Ed.

With the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas already underway, many camera manufacturers have released new models. Sony is no exception. Yesterday, the company issued a press release for its new Cybershot DSC-M2.

The new Sony Cyber-shot(R) DSC-M2 digital camera combines great quality digital still photography and impressive movie-shooting capabilities. Featuring 5.1-megapixel resolution, a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar(R) lens and Sony's Real Imaging Processor circuitry, the camera offers outstanding image capture in either mode. "We recognize that some people don't want to have separate imaging devices for their photos and video," said James Neal, director of digital imaging products at Sony Electronics. "Our new Cyber-shot has been specifically engineered for these people."

Available at around $500 from March 1.

The Sony Cybershot DSC R1 is an extraordinary camera. At 10.3 Megapixels and with 5x optical zoom, you'd expect it to be excellent. Sony has pulled out all the stops with this one. They redesigned the chip so that the large light sensor, typical of SLRs, uses only one-tenth of the battery power of an equivalent camera. Thus they were able to dispense with the complicated mirror system which normally delivers the view to the through-the-lens viewfinder. In the DRC R1, the LCD can be used to frame the view, as in compact cameras. The camera's features include: * Records images on Memory Stick PRO and Compact Flash Type 1/II media; powered by one NP-FM50 InfoLithium battery. * 10.3-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 18 x 24-inch prints. * 5x optical zoom; 2.0-inch vari-angle LCD display. * "Live" preview using Sony's Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology. * Three color modes and RAW capture. Available now at $999.99. Check it out.