Is a Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 Lens good as a macro lens?

I've gotten two telephoto lenses and was looking to go into macro pictures, so i saw this lens and was wondering if it would be good for a macro or not. If not, can you suggest a good one?

No it is NOT a macro lens.

Look on this site and you will see that the macro lenses are clearly marked as macro.

http://www.nikonusa.com/...index.page

Macro lens are macro lens and some of these newer lens add that to their zoom capabilities… In a nut shell it should be a prime lens and that size macro depends on what you are shooting.

A true macro lens will focus to 1:1; or a life-size ratio. The lens you are considering does not focus close enough.

All Nikon lenses that do Macro 1:1 are labelled "MICRO". Nikon did make a few "MACRO" lenses in the '80s and '90s, but they were not true 1:1. Since then they have dropped the MACRO and adopted the MICRO label to differentiate between the two.

Some 3rd party lenses still refer themselves to Macro, but not all of them are true 1:1 Macro. The strongest indication of these lenses (not true Macro) are ZOOM lenses. Zoom lenses are not true Macro.

Only true Macros are prime, but even then, you have to still check the specifications to see the Macro ratio. If it is not capable of 1:1, it is not a Macro lens.

If a lens claims to be a Macro, but has a ratio of greater than 1:1 (i.e. 1:2, 1:2.5, etc) then it is not a Macro. However, if the ratio is less than one ( i.e. 2:1), then it is actually a Super Macro lens.

Horrible for close focus. Much better off with the 18-55 kit lens for close up shots.

Depending on what you're shooting, you're better off with a 105mm macro lens. Nikon has a very nice 105mm macro, however, you can find third party macro lenses around 100mm which are much cheaper. If you have an entry level body (D40, D60, D3100, D5100, … ), to auto focus the lens needs to have the focus motor in the lens (in Nikon lingo, AF-S).

The 35mm f1.8 AF-S DX is a nice, sharp lens, but it is not a very close focusing lens.
If you go here
http://www.dpreview.com/...kon_35_1p8
and click on Specs, you find that maximum magnification is 0.16 x
A true macro has a maximum magnification of 1.0 x
The 18-55mm AF-S VR kit lens has a maximum magnification of 0.31 x