Good Nikon Beginner Lens for Shooting Portraits?

[Blake.Oney]

Yes the 35mm will af on the camera, but I wouldn't use it for portraits. I would get the 50mm 1.8 and learn to af, or get the 1.4 if you don't wan to learn to af. The 50mm on a crop sensor camera puts you at a pretty good focal length for portraits. The 35mm will make you have to get too close to be able to get good perspective flattening, which is more flattering for the subject to put it simply.

 

[djacobox372]

AF 85mm f1.8... you'll lose autofocus, but you should be focusing manually with such a shallow dof anyway.