For portraits Canon 50mm 1.8 I believe it's the predecessor to the mark II---It's rated higher than than the mark II. Excellent portrait lens for less than $80.00 here in the US. The old one would probable be 30.00 or 40.00 US These 50mm are the best lens value you will get. It looks to me like you need a wide angle Zoom and for that I would recommend the Tokina 12-24. check out this link for a comparison. These are good lenses and should be a lot less than the canon. hope this helps, Jack
http://www.nikonians.org/html/resour...out/index.html