Originally posted by eddie1960 For a budget portrait lens it's tough to beat either the tak 50 1.4 or my preference the 55 f1.8. both available for dirt cheap and have great rendering. If you are going to be shooting with Flash though you would be better off looking towards the A series so Pttl works . A 50 1.4 is still available cheaply and gives the a similar FOV to the 77 LTD on a Film camera
If you want something a little longer the Bower/Rokinon/Vivitar 85 f1.4 is tough to beat and has an A setting so compliant with flash systems
In AF it get's harder to find cheap but the F50 1.7 or FA50 1.4 are both great lenses
the sigma EX DG 70 2.8 will get you in the range (sub $500) but for me isn't fast enough.
Teh Sigma EX DG 50 1.4 is another good AF alternative but priced higher than the FA lenses
The SMC-M 55 f1.8 is a superb lens, as for flash, old "Auto thyristor" flashes, such as the Vivitar 283, but also a lot of other cheapo ones (just check trigger voltages) will work well incuding in bounce, and you can use cheap optical triggers for multiflash too!
For a more expensive but not quite bank busting solution, the DA70 Ltd is superb. In film days I liked both 90mm and 105mm focal lengths, so it is no surprise that I like the 55 and 70 on APS-c