I wholeheartedly recommend the 50mm!! I’m a portrait photographer and love this lens! It really is all in what you can/want to afford at this time. When I first started out, I was forced to work with the basics of kit lenses, but quickly invested in the 50mm, and that has been my go-to lens of choice ever since. It’s true that you step forward/backward a lot, but it’s not usually a problem for me, as I shoot my sessions outside, and have plenty of space…I’ve also gotten used to it, though. 😁
A few months ago, after lots of studying and discussing on this forum, I ordered the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 as a second choice zoom lens, and it works pretty well for being a knock-off brand (although I definitely prefer Nikon! Can’t afford it, though! 😄). I found a like-new Tamron lens on Amazon for $222 (brand new $500), so while it’s more than the 50mm, it’s not bad at all for a nice quality zoom lens for portraits. I’ve also enjoyed using this as more of an “everyday” type of lens, because of the ability to zoom in, or out, for that matter. My intent in buying the Tamron lens was to be able to use it for weddings (possibly), but I’m not quite sure if it’s worthy of wedding photography, but maybe I just haven’t used it enough…😄