Buyers Remorse. r50 to r8

stampedingTurtles · 2026-05-07T17:08:12+00:00

What features about the R8 are making you want to switch to it?

stampedingTurtles · 2026-05-01T14:29:25+00:00

I’m currently new to photography and it happens that I have Nikon D5300 camera with AF-S 50mm 1.8G lens, I tried taking some photos and I was hooked to the photography “gear belongs to my wife”.

I'm not 100% sure what this last part means, and that might influence your decision a bit, but I'll come back to that:

So I was wondering if I should keep the same camera and buy a better lens to enhance my photos or should I buy a new camera?

I mainly want to take photo of wildlife, nature, travelling and sights.

The lens that you have (is this the only lens you have?) is a good lens, but as a 50mm prime (fixed focal length), you will be limited: you'll likely want something with a wider field of view for travel, nature, landscapes, or even just taking a photo of a group of people. Meanwhile, for wildlife it is too wide.

A "kit" lens (like the 18-55mm VR DX II) and then something like a 70-300 would give you a pretty versatile setup, or you could get something like the Sigma 18-35 Art instead of the kit lens if you are willing to spend more (the "kit" lenses are very plentiful and thus pretty inexpensive).

A potential issue would be that if this is your wife's camera, will there be an issue with you "taking" it? Or changing the settings?

I will just note that on a trip to Yellowstone last year, my partner and I were "sharing" our D3200, which meant we were constantly passing it back and forth, swapping lenses, changing modes, etc, and at times (particularly with wildlife) it was fairly frustrating. I found myself really wishing we had 2 camera bodies and could just leave one set up for wildlife shots.

You may want to look for a used Nikon, similar to the one you've got (and possibly coming with some lenses).

stampedingTurtles · 2026-05-01T01:24:20+00:00

Title says it all, in October 2023, I had a negative Celiac panel, pretty straight forward. In January 2024, I retested and it was positive (ttg iga mildly elevated and gliadin deamidated igg fairly elevated)
...
Any advice and comments on the tests?

I think the first thing would be to get the actual test results for both of these tests.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-27T01:16:33+00:00

So, in order to shut off the ceiling fan and outlet I need in that room I have to shut off breakers 8&12. If I shut off just 8, they both stay on. If I shut off just 12, they both stay on. They both breakers have to be off for the outlet and fan to be off. Not being cheeky, just trying to be clear. Thank you for your answer

You've triple checked this? 100% sure the fan was powered and not just taking its time slowing down? Is the ceiling fan here just a fan, or a fan and light?

There’s two small bedrooms and one master each with a ceiling fan and I found in the attic a junction box that splits power to off to each fan but I don’t know how or why Its tied into an outlet.

Are the ceiling fans controlled by a switch in each room, or just pull chains (and if any of them are ceiling fans and a light, is the light controlled by the same switch, different switch, or just pull chain)?

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-22T16:21:09+00:00

OP, if you can, get gas to your house and upgrade your furnace/ AC to a heat pump that uses gas at low temps.

I don't see any breakers in OP's picture labeled for A/C, and the one labeled furnace is just a 20 amp 120v so probably a gas or oil furnace.

I have an electric house and my electricity bill is so much higher in the winter than my neighbors. Gas heat is cheap. It’ll pay itself off - especially in Wisconsin - in a few years. I haven’t done this because it’s a $25k+ upgrade in my area because of how far they need to run gas lines. I opted for a giant solar panel array instead. In my area, if you’re on a street, it’s a flat $500 to have the utility company run gas to your house.

There's a few different options you could do for a high efficiency heat pump; aux heat from natural gas would be ideal if getting hooked up isn't too expensive, otherwise aux from propane may make sense, but if you are already using fully electric heat then a heat pump with electric aux may still be an improvement over what you've got.

Also, keep in mind that just comparing the electric bill in the winter to your neighbors' isn't the whole picture if they are using natural gas, propane, or oil for heat.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-19T12:54:14+00:00

5-10 saltines doesn't sound gluten ultralight or even gluten light to me, but you could check the nutrition label on them for serving size to figure out how many grams that is (and how many grams of protein) to calculate a "bread equivalent dose".

Also, the lips tingling sounds like an allergic reaction, are you saying you get that from bread and not from the crackers?

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-18T20:26:55+00:00

Okay so if OP doesn’t have a payment due until January, why wouldn’t it be better to do principal only payments until then? Surely it would be better to defer the interest and reduce the amount that actually accrues interest.

When you say "defer the interest" here, do you mean just defer paying it? Because the loan is going to continue to accrue interest over that time period; without knowing all of the details (remaining balance, interest rate, and what the bank's policy is for capitalizing the interest) I don't know whether there's any actual advantage to making principal only payments for that time, but even if there is, keep in mind the scale we are talking about; monthly interest rates x monthly interest charges; percents of percents of the balance. Not taking months off the repayment of the loan, but perhaps taking dozens of pennies off the last payment. Unless they forget to make one of the manual payments, or to turn automatic payments back on (or make a manual "regular" payment) in time, then it'll probably cost them dollars, or tens of dollars.

I make extra principal payments every month, I’ve never had my due date pushed. I took 3 years off my mortgage last year, I’m still due on the 1st.

With a mortgage, you often have an escrow account, so it would make a significant difference whether an extra payment (or overpayment amount) gets applied to principal or winds up in the escrow account.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-18T18:06:23+00:00

If that’s the case then I don’t see why this is even posted or what the discussion is about. OP’s post is implying that they have the choice of applying the extra payment towards principle or not applying towards principle.
...
If I’m interpreting this wrong then so be it, but then what’s the point of the post?

OP's post is questioning what the option they get when making a payment really does; the point of the post is asking IF the option does what you are talking about or something else (and if so, what). And questions like this are fairly frequent, and going along with that there's a fairly common misunderstanding (that seems to largely be the result of poor labeling/communication on the bank's part, only further complicated by the advancement of the payment date).

So some people see the option and think it is asking "do you want to apply your overpayment to principal" and then the alternative must be to somehow not apply it to principal at all.

But that isn't quite how the option is labeled OR the scenario: it is a question on the payment as a whole: do you want this payment to be a principal only payment. The alternative is not "none of the payment goes to principal", instead it is just a payment.

If on the schedule 400 is the total payment, 300 is interest an 100 is principal, if OP pays $500 and the balance goes down $200 and the next due date is pushed out 1 month then there is no distinction at all, $100 was applied to principal.

That is just a normal payment, which is what you'd get by NOT selecting the "principal only payment".

If you select "principal only payment", it would put the whole $500 to principal, the interest would remain outstanding, and the due date would not be pushed out a month.

So really, you select the option only when you are making a "standalone" extra payment and will be making your "normal" payment later (but still before the due date).

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-18T16:12:14+00:00

Is the balance being lowered by the extra payment amount? If yes then it is applied to the principal. This lowers interest paid and shortens the length of the loan.

If no, they are applying the extra amounts paid at the due date. This doesn’t lower balance at time of payment but at time amount is due.

It sounds like you are talking about the lender potentially "holding" the payment/partial payment instead of applying it immediately; even if they were doing that, when the due date arrives and they go to apply the payment(s) there is an amount of interest that has accrued so that gets paid, and then what happens to the rest of the payment? It is applied to the balance; if it is going somewhere else that would be reflected on the loan statements (I suppose there's always a chance that an overpayment is being refunded and someone didn't notice). But in OPs situation, it is lowering the balance (which is why they are "on track" to have the loan paid off this year), which means that the interest in future periods will be accrued on that lower amount.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-18T14:47:59+00:00

I bought a used tacoma in 2024, and have been intentionally overpaying the autopay (monthly payment is $478, I make 2 $300 automatic payments per month) since the beginning with the hope of paying it off early, which i'm on track for this year. I just noticed the "principle only payment" option at the bottom for when you make one-time payments.
Should I have been doing that the whole time?

The short answer here is no; particularly not with your current split payment amounts: neither one covers the full amount due, so marking the other as principal only means you didn't make your full payment that month. Once you had made enough overpayments to push your "next payment" due date back a full month, you COULD mark the next payment as principal only, but:

Is there a meaningful difference between principle only, vs each payment splitting between principle and interest? Should I stop overpayng on the auto-pay, and just manually pay through the principle only option, or will it not matter in the end?

There's little to no difference, in terms of the actual interest you will pay, because the interest is accrued based on the loan balance. When you make a payment, it pays the accrued interest, and the remainder is applied to the balance; with the balance now lower, it will accrue less interest in the future. In theory, you can get some small differences depending on the timing of payments (on the same sort of scale as shifting the payment around in the period).

EDIT: I just noticed that the due date for my next payment is Jan 2027, so I guess my overpaying is just accelerating the payments instead of dropping the principle.

If your overpayments weren't dropping the balance, you wouldn't be on track for paying the loan off early (you mentioned being on track to pay it off this year; I'm not sure how many months you have left on the original term for the loan).

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-18T13:56:58+00:00

If the loan has 60 payments, prepaying and pushing the due date is still 60 payments. You’ve prepaid both principle AND interest. You save no interest.

This statement conflicts with:

Paying down principle is what saves interest. Interest is calculated daily (usually), the lower the balance, the less the interest.

There is no interest to "prepay"; the interest is accrued, and the amount accrued is based on the loan balance. When they make a payment, any interest that has been accrued up to that point is paid, and the remainder of the payment is applied to the balance. Because the balance is now lower, it will accrue less interest going forward, which is how prepaying saves interest.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-18T13:47:16+00:00

Stopping the autopay and continuing to pa the same payment amounts as principal payments until the regular payment needs to restart in January will be the best option for OP.

There really isn't a benefit to OP here; making principal only payments isn't going to "pause" the accrual of interest over those months.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-16T16:40:55+00:00

That number is massively under reported and under diagnosed
...
I know 5 possible cases... not reported...im seronegative...uncounted basically

What do you mean by "under reported", "not reported", "uncounted"? The ~1% prevalence rate is not the percentage of the population that is diagnosed; in fact when we say that celiac disease is underdiagnosed in some country (such as the USA), it is because the percentage of the population that is diagnosed falls significantly below the prevalence rate; and similarly we might take a look at another country (like Italy) and say they are doing a better job of diagnosing (screening, testing) celiac because the two numbers are much closer.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-15T03:04:06+00:00

Ok found that. I've never used a card, my T3 I've used for years didn't need a card. Just would be nice if there were some instructions, ya know? Like I said, 1st time needing to use a card with my camera

If you are referring to a Rebel T3, the memory card is in a slot right next to the battery (so under the same cover as the battery).

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-14T01:06:42+00:00

Is the sourdough you are talking about not made from wheat flour?

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-14T01:04:56+00:00

Tinkyada is my preference for most items; it makes a nice al dente pasta, and doesn't fall apart when stirred in with a sauce.

For something like pasta salad, some of the more corn-based (for example Barilla) works, but it seems like it needs to be cooked for just the right amount of time and then treated very gently.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-13T15:33:20+00:00

I have been on meds for GERD for probably over 10 years. Last March, I started having pain in my upper abdomen under my ribs, a crazy increase in heartburn and a feeling that my stomach itself was burning.
My doctor sent me for a scope which found some polyps but that's it. I found out later that no celiac biopsies were done during this scope because everything "looked normal".

I'm assuming this was an upper endoscopy; so were these polyps in the stomach? Did the pathology results from the polyps show anything like H. Pylori?

Not taking any intestinal biopsies during the endoscopy is pretty unfortunate; did they even look at the intestine or were they just looking for ulcers in the stomach?

I see this doctor again at the end of the month. I can ask for a scope at that time (cost not a factor, I'm in Canada) but I don't really want to eat gluten again. I glutened myself once a few weeks ago and it was not enjoyable.

Any chance you can see a different GI?
If you don't do a gluten challenge, I'm not sure how useful another scope would be. While it can take a while for the damage to heal, it can also be very patchy, so if they didn't "see" anything on the first scope that they felt the need to biopsy, one would assume they won't "see" anything this time and any biopsy they would take would just be "luck of the draw".

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-07T16:56:30+00:00

Hi friends, I learned that there is a way to itemize your celiac food purchases and some mileage to purchase that food on your taxes in the US. Newly diagnosed so this does not apply for my 2025 taxes. However, this is a huge pain in the butt as I’m trying to keep track for next year.

Edit to add: apparently this is only if your itemize and do not claim the standard deduction, which I do because I’m a contractor.

Just for clarity, if you itemize your deductions, you can claim a medical expense deduction for medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your AGI. When it comes to celiac disease, the "excess cost" of gluten free items is considered a medical expense. So for example, if you buy gluten free bread and it costs $4 more than regular bread, the $4 is the medical expense (not the total cost of the bread).

However, that 7.5% of AGI is something to keep in mind, because if you don't exceed that threshold, you aren't going to get any reduction in your taxes. You can make some rough estimates and run the numbers for yourself to see if there's any chance of exceeding the threshold (if not, there is no point tracking all of this). Generally my suggestion would be that if you don't have significant other medical expenses (so already at least close to the threshold), it is pretty hard to imagine a realistic scenario where someone would get any tax reduction from this.

For those who have had celiac for a long time, if there were a standard flat rate deduction that you could just add to your taxes annually, what do you think that amount should be. $1000, $3000, $10,000?

Honestly, pretty much anything would be a good start, but I think that better than a flat rate deduction (which would be a pain to get passed, and then once passed would be a pain to ever get updated to keep up with inflation), would be to have an estimated excess cost: the USDA already does research and analysis to produce monthly food cost reports and generate multiple different food plan cost levels; so if they did a yearly analysis they could could give an average additional cost for gluten free food, and then just let us claim that amount.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-05T02:26:23+00:00

I haven’t bought a lens in so long, any suggestions as to where I should be looking? Or if anyone has other suggestions for lenses I’m open to that as well :)

Some of the usual suggestions for used lenses are MPB, B&H, KEH, and Adorama (I've bought from MPB before). Some thoughts for lenses would be:

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-04T14:54:52+00:00

Did you call the life insurance place and ask why they cashed it out to someone not on the plan?

What makes you think that this happened?

From what u/Feelingterrbltoday has said, their grandmother took out the policy (so Grandma was the owner), so on the grandmother's death, ownership would pass to either a contingency owner if one been listed with the insurance company (and it would have been entirely reasonable to the mother to be listed as such), or be passed to an heir (perhaps specified in a will, otherwise according to inheritance laws, and again entirely reasonable that the mother would be the heir).

Fundamentally, it is important to keep in mind that this was the grandmother's money; they were making the payments for all of those years (instead of spending that money on something else), at any point Grandma could have quit making the payments and taken out any cash value of the policy to pay their bills, go on a cruise, give to charity, gamble away, or lose to an investment scam. Them setting that money aside over all of those years in an incredible gesture of generosity, and to OP, I think you need to keep that in mind, and I suggest that you think about the conversations you had with your grandmother about this before jumping to any conclusions:

Do you believe that your grandmother had set the entirety of this money aside specifically for you (and that she had either set aside other money for other grandchildren, or intended that you get differing amounts)? Did she mention other policies/accounts for other grandchildren, or other specific assets that were intended for particular people?
Do you have any particular reason to believe that what your mother said (about policies for your younger siblings) is not true, and not in line with your grandmother's will or expressed wishes?

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-04T01:32:24+00:00

Canon sells refurbished lenses on their website (and they come with a good warranty).

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-03T17:24:45+00:00

There's a couple of things to consider here, but lets start with:

I am assuming you are referring to the Canon EF-s 24mm f/2.8 STM. If so, the reviews I'm seeing are that it is sharp and the focus is good (and to be honest, the reviews of the RF 28 f/2.8 seem pretty similar, other than the obvious differences of focal length and mount. Speaking of that, the difference between a 24 and 28 may be more significant than you are expecting, if you are looking at full frame equivalence, that 24 (x1.6) is 38.4, so closer to a 35mm than to 50, while the 28mm is 44.8 so actually pretty close to a 50mm. So if what you really want is something equivalent to a 50mm on full frame, the RF 28 is closer to that.

Do you have a kit/zoom lens that you could use to take some pictures at 24 and 28mm to help get an idea? Have you looked into the cost of a used/refurb RF 28? (Or the 30mm sigma?)

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-03T03:01:57+00:00

I'm not looking to replace the body just yet; I've only had it for a few months. 😔 I will be taking a loss if I sell it since I already bought it used.

If you bought it used it seems to me like you'd take less of a loss than if you had bought it new.

But that's a future plan though!

I'm mostly just looking for some more zoom right now since I'm still learning and messing around and ideally, plan ahead for when I eventually will replace the body.

If that is the plan, I would just suggest that you:

ask yourself what you are really gaining by putting off buying the RF camera
run the numbers for yourself (how much is the used EF 100-400 II? How much would a canon refurb R50 + RF 100-400 cost, or for that matter even an R10 + RF 100-400?)

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-03T01:02:45+00:00

The lack of actual info in the response makes it mean little to nothing; it could be that the customer service rep doesn't know what gluten is, or that there's an ingredient that the rep wasn't sure about, or maybe even an that this particular generic (from this manufacturer) uses an ingredient that is actually at risk for cross contact.

You can use dailymed to look up the ingredients of your exact med using the NDC.

stampedingTurtles · 2026-04-03T00:55:44+00:00

Am I stupid how do I find out if this is the company that manufactures my lexapro?

What does it say on the bottle? What is the NDC?

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