Hi,
I'm new to the world of dslr's ( I miss the point and shoot I used to have). I hope you can bear with me here.
I just got myself a Canon 1000D/rebel Xs, in the shop I was tossing up between this and the 450D/rebel Xsi. I said ti the guy I wanted to do alot of close up macros of flowers and also probably animals and landscapes. This camera I got came with a 75-300mm lens thats what mainly attracted me to it as my understanding was that it was more for your closeup shots. Although this didn't have IS (Image Stabiliser) it wasnt really a big deal as I am always using a tripod, it was the lens which attracted me. The 450D/xsi came with a 55-250mm lens (i think it was) but also alot dearer although it had IS. It was a tough decision but the 75-300mm lens won me over.
Now this is where my dilemma comes in. I was trying to take a flower macro, with no sucess. I read the instruction manual (i have everything in my camera bag
) it said:
When you want to photograph flowers or small things up close, use the @-'- (close-up) mode. (lol @ my flower icon attempt). To make small things appear much larger, use a macro lens (sold seperately). (I thought I could do that with this 75-300mm lens)
Shooting tips
Move to the subject as close as possible.
Check the lens for its minimum focusing distance. Some lenses have indications such as <@-'- 0.25m/0.8ft>
(I figured out what they meant here by checking out the normal lens which came with the camera, the 75-300 lens said {@-'- 1.5m/4.9ft}). The lens minimum focusing distance is measured from the
(focal plane) mark on the camera to the subject (I found this too, on the 75-300 it says 58mm). If you are too close to the subject, the focus confirmation light will blink. (I must say nothing showed up, not even on the display).
Under low light, the built-in-flash will fire. If you are too close to the subject and the bottom of the picture looks dark, move away from the subject.
The book didn't have great instructions really and I was somewhere where I didnt have access to a computer to check out the tips here, i still havent yet but will soon.
Ok so to my understanding, the minimum focusing distance is 58mm, there was no way I could get that close it was just a blur. Or am I mistaken. Did I read the instructions and understand them wrongly(it wasn't only me though, I had my fiancee trying to help me too), the 58mm is not the minimum focusing length but rather the @-'- 1.5m/4.9ft is? (omg i hope not, getting that far away from flowers in some situations will be a pain).
No focus confirmation light blinked at all, although I'm not sure where to look for it.
IDK (sigh) have a made a wrong decision in the camera in which i bought? Was I given a bumsteer from the guy selling it? Is this lens one in which I can't do macros with? 
I hope to hell that I don't have to outlay costs for a macro lens as that wont be able to happen for ages.
I realize I have a long way to go into understanding and learning this thing but I really really miss my point and shoot, but it had an unfortunate accident (a gust of wind cropped up when it was on the tripod in powersave mode, but with lens out, and I wasnt quick enough to grab it, was in between shooting so wasnt right there, wind toppled the tripod over right onto its lens 
. geez how i miss that easy to use camera.) oh well no use cyring over spilt milk. I've learnt now, I remove the camera from the tripod with the quick release feature, no more leaving it on there for a horrible act of nature to occur, this camera is way to dear for anything like that.
Looking forward to your feedback.
Thanks,
Gayle.