Lotsa options. Really depends on what type of portraits you will be doing. For general-purpose portrait work on your cam, a 50mm lens would be quite versatile. Nikon's 50mm choices are very similar to Canon's, and either the basic Nikkor 50/1.8 or it's more expensive, faster brother would be a good portrait lens.
Edit:
I personally do a lot of existing light candids, and I like a longer focal length for that. On a cropped cam, I really liked 100mm (100/2.8 macro is my tool at that length, Nikon also offers a good choice there as does Tamron @ 90mm). A 70-200/2.8 zoom is also a great tool for this, if you're not put off by the cost.
I have a 28-55 nikkor and a 70-300 promaster. Would it be worth investing in something that covers the 80-135 range? What are the advantages of shooting with the slightly longer focal lengths?
85 mm 1.8 or 1.4 is good portrait lens for digital. advantage to the longer focal lengths is that they can isolate the subject from the background more, and isolate the subject from any clutter as well.
I have a 28-55 nikkor and a 70-300 promaster. Would it be worth investing in something that covers the 80-135 range? What are the advantages of shooting with the slightly longer focal lengths?
Thanks!
If you really want to shoot a lot of portraits, a good prime will be a solid investment. The advantage to using a longer focal length lens, in addition to being able to isolate the subject by shooting with a wider aperture etc is that the foreshortening that moderate tele lenses give is more flattering to the face. The widest lens I'd typically use for a portrait is 50mm, but I prefer my 85mm most of the time.
I can't help you much with Nikon, but I recently got the Canon 50/1.4 and it's a dream for portaits. I had the 50/1.8 before that and it was amazing to... I really don't think you can go wrong with a 50 on a digital body... I've used my longer 70-200 for portraits as well, and it has had some good results, but I've always liked the 50 better...
Hmmm. you're making it tough!
Too wide angle lens and you might get distored features. If yo can back up enough that helps...try 18-28 range and keep the camera at chest level or maybe a tad lower (mid-photo of the print). If you hold it at face level the distrotions of a wide angle will show more.
Nikon primes in the 20mm to 50mm range are excellent and prices are very competitive with third party lenses. Some third party lenses might be faster but the Nikons are still completely usable wide open. From reviews I've seen the same can not always be said for the third party lenses. For your needs the Nikon 28mm f/1.4 would fit the bill nicely if money is no object. Otherwise the Nikon 28mm f/2.8 or 35mm f/2 would be more affordable options for full length and small groups. For larger groups the 24mm f/2.8 will also still provide excellent results with minimal to no distortion. If you don't mind used you can get all these focal lengths in the Nikon 20-35mm f/2.8 zoom with very minimal, if any, trade off in quality for under $600.
