Dust in lenses

I hear people around here mention a lot of dust getting into their lenses. I am iffy about buying a really good lense to just get dust in it, and as someone here said, have nothing more than an expensive paperweight. Is there any way to prevent dust from getting in, or any way of cleaning it, etc?

Only take pix inside of a certified "clean" room. Do not worry about what a few say. Everything depends on what you do and where. If you live inside of a coal mine, you'll get dust on, and in, everything. Relax.

Ok, because its for concert photography, and the first place I was planning on using it was at an outside music festival (Creation). It's not too dusty or anything there though, so hopefully I will be good...

Do not go outside, never do that j/k

Dust would get the way into your lenses no matter how careful you are. It's just the fact. My advice is just relax and shoot happily without worrying abouot this

Can you send it in to get it cleaned? If so, how much does that cost?

It would take a great deal of dust inside the lens before it would even begin to impact Image Quality (IQ). I've been shooting with some of my EF lenses for nearly 15 years, and with FD lenes for teh better part of 30 years, and I've used them in all types of environments, including very dusty surroundings, and I've had no issues.

As someone else said, if you want to keep your gear in pristine condition, you're going to have to shoot in clean room. And since I've worked in clean rooms for almost 5 years, I'd have to say, the lighting is pretty terrible there.

Mark