Just multiply the 35 mm by 1.6 for Canon xxD's
1.5 for Nikon
Who knows what for Oly 4/3rds??? LOL
Primes are nice. I wished I'd have bought some instead of my zooms...but I'm broke now
I find the 50mm to be pretty good for portraits, the thing is although cropped..a 50mm still has the properties of a 50mm. The same foreshortening. If you notice a tele lens shortens, or brings closer distance. Say a railroad track photo. It brings it ALL closer so the farthest point looks close, and the nearest looks close. A wide angle will give more depth. So even though you are in effect changing a 50mm into an 80mm with your camera's sensor size...The lens properties are still the same. The crop does change but the properties of the lens do not. They will shorten things up the same, or make them seem farther away the same as they would on a 35mm. So it's just something extra to complicate things when chosing a lens and comparing it to it's 35mm equiv, Some people prefer the look of a longer lens for portraits, they say it makes long noses look flatter (I've never noticed it much)..and in how it treats a subjects face etc. But then with a cropped camera you've got to stand a bit farther back.. I don't know if this makes much sense, but if I'd had the money I'd have gotten a 1ds (full 35mm frame) when I got my camera so I wouldn't have had to think about all this.
Yes a 30mm or so is closer to the crop that the eye sees on a 1.6 camera I'd think. My next lens may be a wide Sigma, and most are pretty fast. For a cheap fast and sharp lens that's put together awful...the Canon 50mm 1.8 can't be beat...and 50mm sure works well on portraits to my eye..as norms beautiful portrait attests to. (not sure which 50mm he used) Oh and the hood....you can get a rubber hood very reasonably at any photo shop. I got one for my 50mm for a few $US. and the rubber hoods give a nice "retro" look.