Nikon D50 battery

[thriving artist]

I have a used D50 I purchased on E-Bay. Everything is working fine at this time (got it in December) However, I have noticed that the battery doesn't seem to give nearly as many shots on a charge as indicated by the manual, this forum and the magazines. I am shooting in auto mode with lots of flash use and many looks at the LCD, but I am sure I am not getting even 400 shots per charge. Is this normal. Also, sometimes when I turn it on the battery symbol reads just below full, but after the first shot it plumets to near empty. What gives? Any help from you very helpful DSLR users out there would be much appreciated. Thriving Artist

[rey]

The flash drains a lot of battery power. So it's hard to judge how much shot to expect if you're using them.
Without using flash, I have gone 500+ shots between charges on my D50.