If you go with an 85mm for portraits, I was suggesting the possibility of a 35mm instead of a 50mm if you were to pick that one up as well, since it is inexpensive and useful. With a crop lens, the 35mm effectively becomes a 52mm lens and the 50mm lens becomes a 75mm lens. The problem with the 50 is that if you're wanting to take famiy shots around the holiday table, the 50mm will not be wide enough. When I shot film on a Canon ftb, my main lens was a 50mm. I got some great shots with it. That camera, ofc, was a 35mm. If you get the 35mm, you adjust your photo by moving in an out, not by telescoping your lens. You take photos the old fashioned way!!!