For a portrait lens a 50mm f1.8 cost about £80 quid I think and although plastic gives suprisingly good results. With the crop factor becomes 80mm which is quite a nice focal length and the aperture is wide enough to give a narrow depth of field to blur background, The speed also is useful for moody available light shots and other dim conditions. Don't dismiss the 'standard' zoom you buy either as that incorporates all the classic focal lengths for portraiture i.e. 80-135 in 35mm terms. Zooms give about 1:4 for macro i.e. about 1/4 life size. For cheap macro try Kenko automatic extention tubes which with the 50mm standard lens will bring you up to 1:1 i.e. life size of surprisingly good quality for approx £100. Not as versatile as a proper macro lens nor will the edges be as sharp etc but for most subjects which are not flat you would never know. They can be used with the zoom lenses as well. Speed of lenses is a subject in itself but basically its a bit like pixel count, more is useful and tends to come with more upmarket equipment but is not the be all and end all.
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