New guy, question about macro lenses

[cigrainger]

Hey guys, I'm new here, and new to photography in general. In fact, the shots on my flickr account in my sig are my first ever rolls of SLR film that I had put onto CD when developed.

My question is this: I found a 60-200mm macro zoom lens that fits my camera, and while I want it to do extreme detail shots, I'm wondering if it can be used to take pictures of things far away as well. Thanks!

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, it can. Most times, when a lens says 'macro' on it...mean that it can focus fairly close to the subject...allowing you to get closer. It can still focus at other distance up to infinity.

Keep in mind that although it says 'macro'...it's probably not a true 1:1 macro lens. True macro lesnes allow you to get close enough so that the size of the actual object is the same as the size of the image on the film (negative).

If you are really interested in extreme close up photography...there are several different options that you can pursue.