Low cost portrait lens

Hi Guy's. I'm looking for a low cost ( and I mean low cost ) lens for learning to do portraits. What can you suggest ? I was thinking of a Nifty Fifty... would this work without too much back light in most situations ( bit open that I guess )
I imagine from what i have read on here that the 85 f/1.8 is probably the way to go eventually... but I cannot justify the cost at the moment.
Help please...
Thanks

Go for the 50mm f/1.8, at £60 it's a bargain and will let you get some lovely shots.

You don't say what body you are using btw?

Thanks h4rri .... I am using a 350.

50 1.8. Just use a good backdrop that minimizes the bokeh.

Gotcha! ....

The field of view you get with a 50f1.8 is about that of a 85 f1.8 on your camera -So the 85 f1.8 would be a bit to long as it would work as a 136mm .
the 50 is ideal .
Rob.

you should be happy with the 50 1.8 but as soon as you get your first couple of gigs i would definitely reccomend going with either the 85 1.8 or the 50 1.4

will this be in a studio or outside?

50 1,8 is fine for a studio
most studio portraits are taken at f/8 or f/11 so there's no bokeh at all

I think most people here would agree that for a local low-cost portrait lens, the 50f1.8 is pretty hard to beat. Go for it

The Canon 50mm f1.8 is nice but the all-metal Russian Jupiter-9 85mm f2 manual is a Real lens. Its an M42 mount with an EOS adapter.

Short reviews and images at http://www.pbase.com/w​esleywong/jupiter_9 , http://www.heikkisilta​la.com/current_equipme​nt.htm , http://www.mflenses.co​m …-f/2-M42-Lens-Review.html

Buy it here http://rugift.com …_9_lens_for_can​on_eos.htm or look for a cheaper one on ebay.