A lot of telephoto zoom lenses are marked “Macro”. For example, almost every 70-300mm zoom lens has a the word “macro” on it somewhere. What does this mean? Especially if there is no macro switch on the lens?
At 300mm and at minimum focus distance a lens marked “macro” is usually capable of 1:4 magnification (on film; it is slightly higher on digital). Lens manufacturers consider this “macro” and put the label on their lenses. To use it in so-called “macro” mode you don’t need to do anything special to make it macro capable. Just zoom out to 300mm and focus on something as close as the lens will go, which should be about 3 feet.
Zoom lenses that incorporate a “macro” switch really just use the switch as a focus limiter. In order to make AF faster, the focus ring does not turn as far when the lens is switched to “non-macro” mode. You will notice that when the lens hunts for focus, it goes all the way from infinity focus to as close as the lens goes, and then back again, looking for anything for focus to lock in on. What the macro switch does is to limit the range the lens will focus through under normal circumstances, so that that the whole process of hunting for focus goes faster. Older lenses such as this one did not come with a focus-limiting macro switch, so in difficult AF situations (low light or low contrast subjects) the lens will go through the whole range looking for the point of sharp focus. So basically, this lens is about as “macro” as any 70-300mm model, regardless of whether or not it has a switch. If you need to get closer, the two options are extension tubes, or a dedicated macro lens, such as a 50mm or 100mm macro prime. Extension tubes go between the lens and the camera. You can no longer focus to infinity, but you can get closer in. Dedicated macro lenses for the Sony Alpha run from $200-400 for used ones, more for the newer Sony-branded versions.