Arguably one of the best lenses for the value and definitely recommended to get great photos without sacrificing your first born to afford it.  I am not surprised by how many professional photographers have and love this lens.

It's set at a fixed 50mm so plan on a little more leg work.  The trade off however is a very fast f/1.4.  While shooting this lens wide open leaves nearly everything soft, scaling back to f/2.0 or f2.2 is perfect for sharp portraits without the distractions in the background.

You can expect to spend around $320 to $360 on one.  Dollar for dollar you will find that this lens is an incredible value.  I would recommend it as a lens suitable for every camera bag out there... unless of course you shoot something other than Canon, at which point, I am certain there exists a very similar counterpart.