I would like to purchase a lens for good portrait photography for my Olympus e510. I currently only have the 14-42mm that came with the camera. I would like to spend around $500-$700 for the lens. Also, do I need to purchase an external flash? Any help or suggestions?

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The kit lens 40-150 f4-5.6 makes a great portrait lens, they sell for around 150 dollars new on buydig.com. With the money saved, invest in a nice flash. Unless you're doing professional work, the FL-36 is plenty good, just get a good set of rechargeables, such as Sanyo Eneloops to help with the flash recharge time. Unless you really wanna go all out and get the FL-50. Another good portrait lens is the ZD 50mm f2.0 macro, keep in mind that it's a prime lens, one focal length, so you're gonna have to use the standard zoom that all of us have, aka your feet lol. But for the money and versatility, you can't beat the 40-150 kit. Here's some portrait pics with the 40-150 http://flickr.com/photos/supervf1/sets/72157605243261959/ http://flickr.com/photos/supervf1/sets/72157605254686622/