Looking for advice on a future lens.

[Danteyb]

I shoot a lot of portraits for the mere fact that it helps fund my business. My true passion is shooting landscape and random stuff, really, I like to take a picture of something ordinary and turn it into something more.

I'm currently torn between what lens I should purchase. Now, this will be my first lens I've purchased because the only other lens I own is the kit lens that came with my Nikon D3000. I'm just looking for the best lens for my buck. I don't have much because I'm a student and etc... I do plan on getting another camera in the future but I don't know how far that will be. I'm not looking at going to high I'm merely wanting to know which would be best for me.

Opinions...


Nikkor AF-S f/1.8 50mm

or

Nikkor AF-S f/1.8 35mm

And if something could explain the differences between the two, that would be helpful.

 

[Overread]

Personally I would go for the 50mm lens over the 35mm considering what you state as your general subjects.

For portraits of people its important to understand perspective distortion. This is an effect where a wide angle lens causes parts of the subject closer to the camera to enlarge over those further away. The result can be big feet, hands, noses etc.... Now this can be somewhat corrected with editing software, however editing software can't make something out of nothing and thus you will lose quality when correcting distortion.
The amount of distortion you will get will depend upon the specific lens you are using, some are more corrected than others, although as a general rule the shorter the focal length the greater the distortion.

Now its important to note that perspective distortion is something that you get with wide angle lenses, such as the 35mm you've mentioned. Now you can avoid this problem if you use a telephoto lens - such as the 50mm you've listed (50mm is a very rough boundary between telephoto and wide angle - very rough). As a result for your portrait photography the 50mm would be a superior choice over the 35mm.