Would appreciate some help on this one

So, lately Ive been shooting some street portraits and some action shots with dogs on the beach

I want to buy something smaller that might serve me as an "all rounder" but still have fab optical quality.

Jobs include POrtraits, family shoots, action, street etc etc

Specifically I would like to know is the DA 50mm 1.8 good enough for my street portraits because the M 50 1.7 is a challenge to focus at times in live view
AND if I was to go for soemthing like the DA 50 135 to cover portraiture, jobs would it still be good enough for action? Its supposed to be slow right?

Personally, I prefer to use primes for portrait work but then I don't generally have to hurry as the work is planned to a degree. I've heard pretty good things about the 1.8, why not hire one and see how you get on?

You can get them for about 80 quid used - hardly worth renting

I agree with the prime thing.

QC, Ignore the stories about the speed of the lens, as long as you learn its limitations you can use it very successfully for fast action, and apparently it is awesome for portraiture.
Some karting shots with it.

wow i have to say I am very surprised by those Kart shots Steve. People tell me that they are amazed at my action shots with the 150 500 so the 50 135 can only be easy for me. Did you track the Karts or just fire off at a pre-determined spot as they came into focus (manual in other words)?

I always use continual AF, TAV f5.6-f8 1/1000 if I want to freeze the action, and for the panning shots usually 1/125 and about f11.
Works for me, and the colour rendition of the DA*50-135 is beautiful.

Alistair, the DA*50-135 would provide you with a good portrait lens and enable you to take some action stuff too, its a workhorse of a lens. Despite what people say about lenses not being fast enough in terms of AF for action there are ways around the limitations. One of the best ways to get action shots is to pre focus, lock focus and turn of the AF, it takes a bit of practice but if you know where the action is going to be, you can nail the shot 98% of the time. Obviously, this method is not possible for every situation, but even Nikon & Canon can get AF wrong in relation to action.

I use an 18-55mm for my shots. I have started following you on Flikr ?(I hope you didn't mind) if you would like to follow me my link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/12599436@N07/

My photo's arn't as good as yours but then I'm only learning.

The da 50-135 can have it af motor upgraded by jps for £130 which is supposed to significantly improve af speed

I picked up my DA 50mm f1.8 for less the £100 and it's superb, I use it for street & portraits.

The build quality is not the best, but it is light, the AF is loud but fast and accurate, to be honest if I am just going out with one camera, one lens in a holster style bag I always take the fifty along to, as I just but it in my coat pocket, in fact since buying it, I don't think I have left home with out it.

And like you said, for the price, how can you go wrong.got to be the best street/portrait lens for the money from any maker.