85mm F1.8 or 50mm F1.4 on a crop sensor?

I'm sure I've said this before but 50mm is rubbish for traditional head and shoulders portraits. Crop or full frame makes no difference.
 
ryanyboy said:
I'm sure I've said this before but 50mm is rubbish for traditional head and shoulders portraits. Crop or full frame makes no difference.
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You're not alone, but we appear to be in the minority.

Completely right! but in the minority.
 
Mr Will said:
Is 85mm on full frame acceptable?
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To be brutally honest for tight head and shoulder portraits no, not for me. Ideally 130mm plus.

The trouble is in defining a "portrait". That's why I emphasize the head and shoulders bit.

For a wider portrait (ie waist up) then 85mm is fine. But for tighter shots I still 85mm to be unflattering.

I'll see if I can fish out an example :)
 
If your budget is tight, then I'd say that a combination of the 50mm 1.8 and 85mm 1.8 is a no-brainer. Some can get a little elitist about the cheap build of the 50mm 1.8, and whilst the focus not the fastest around, for the money I'd say that only a fool would pass it up and not have a 50 in their bag. The 85mm 1.8 is just a beauty though, and whilst it might get a bit tight on a crop sensor, the image quality of it is pretty much second to none at the price it is at.
 
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