Looking into a new prime for my D800

[Solarflare]

The zoom I'd use for portrait work on Nikon would be the AF 80-200m f2.8, which is 300€ for the cheapest version (push-pull pre-D). Its slow and slightly noisy autofocus though and if your have an entry level camera body that doesnt have the necessary screwdrive motor, its manual focus only. There is no image stabilization so a monopod or tripod might often be helpful.

Two of my favorite lenses are manual focus only. Cant get anything else like that if I only wanted to use autofocus lenses. I would love to own some more manual focus lenses, too.