What did I buy? Noob

[RyanEG]

So when I bought my D60 i told the gent at the camera shop that I wanted a 100mm macro lense with it. They were having a kit deal with the D60 body, an 18-55mm, and a 55-200mm. He didnt have the 100mm macro in stock and offered to sell me the following at the same discount that they were giving to the 55-200mm.

Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO DG MACRO lens

So what exactly did I buy, is this geared more towards portrait photography? Sorry for the newbie question but I would appreciate any info you all could give.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

That isn't really a macro lens, it certainly isn't what you want for coral closeups. The 100mm Macro is a Canon lens. You would want the 105mm Micro for a Nikon camera.

This lens is geared more toward wildlife photography...I wouldn't use it for portraits. It lags behind in wildlife because of the aperture. It can only shoot well in bright light whereas wildlife is most active during the morning and dusk when light is scarce. It lags in portraiture for the same reason. Good portrait lenses have extremely wide aperture (f/2.8 at a minimum) for creamy backgrounds which make the subject really "pop". I think the best (Canon) portrait lenses are the 85mm f/1.2 and the 135mm f/2.

My avatar was taken with a 70-300 f/4-5.6. Its an alright lens but I wouldn't want to shoot an aquarium with it.

If you bought this lens for macro shots of your corals, take it back. Tell them you want a Tamron 90mm (less expensive) or Nikon 105mm (higher quality). There are some other choices as well.

EDIT: Re-reading I am seeing you bought this lens as a kit with your camera. I didn't catch that. Keep it but make sure you get a real macro lens for your tank!

 

[RyanEG]

Thank you.