I have got about 14 people to coordinate for our secret santa this year in Chicago and normally we just use a messy group text but it is a total disaster every single year with people forgetting what they bought or losing the list. I looked at Elfster because it seems popular but I read some recent reviews saying the UI is super clunky now and it keeps pushing random ads for stuff nobody even wants. Then I saw Giftful which looked cleaner but some people on another thread said the browser extension doesnt work right on mobile and half my family only uses their phones.

My parents are in their 70s and if the app is even slightly confusing they just wont use it and then I end up getting three of the same toy for my kids. I need to get this set up by this weekend so people can actually start shopping before everything sells out or shipping gets crazy. Does anyone know an app that lets you just paste links from any site and actually tracks when someone buys it so there are no duplicates? Ideally something free because we already spend way too much on the actual gifts. I just want something that wont give my tech-illiterate dad a headache...

• Clean the gold contacts with some isopropyl alcohol before mounting it to keep the connection solid.


• Make sure the battery door flap from the camera body tucks perfectly into the grip storage slot or youll lose the seal. Actually, speaking of weather, I was just looking at my old 80D and remembered shooting a mountain bike race where it got absolutely caked in mud. Spent three hours cleaning the buttons with a toothbrush. I still find grit in the dial sometimes. My knees definitely dont miss that kind of hiking tho... anyway... but yeah.

• Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM is incredible value.


• Grab it used to stay under budget tho!

Ive been doing a ton of reading and my logic was originally to just grab the RF-S 18-150mm because it seems like such a great all-in-one option and people say the image quality is surprisingly sharp for a kit zoom. But then I saw some reviews for the RF 100-400mm and now I'm completely torn. Some people say the 100-400 is the best value lens Canon has ever made but others are warning that since its an f/8 at the long end it might be totally useless if the clouds come out or if I'm under some trees. I'm also worried that 100mm on the wide end might be way too tight on a crop sensor like the R10 so I'd be constantly switching lenses just to take a photo of my kids standing next to me.

Then there is the whole EF adapter route... I saw a few forum posts saying the old EF-S 55-250mm STM is basically a legend and you can find them for like 150 bucks used but I don't know if I want to deal with the bulk of an adapter on such a small camera body. My budget is pretty firm around 500 or 600 bucks max because I'm still paying off the camera itself haha. Is the 18-150mm enough reach for a zoo or should I just go for the big 100-400 and deal with the size? I just dont want to waste money on something that wont get the shots I'm dreaming of...

• Snipe time set to 5 seconds


• Set up a bid group for three listings It worked great once I got past the clunky interface and saved me so much stress.