Removing dust from lens?

I was out shooting photos in the dirt today, and didn't notice my friend rapidly approaching on my ATV, and he showered me, and unfortunately my T1i with a huge cloud of dust. I tried to brush out as much as I could, but after examining the lens for a bit, I can see lots of dust still made its way inside, and I can't blow it out, or anything

I can also feel the outer drum to adjust zoom has dust in it, from a rough movement. How does everybody clean their lenses? Do I have to send it in for cleaning, or can I do it at home?

Send it in

lannes wrote in post #11262897
Send it in

+1 or take it to a local (trusted) camera shop that is qualified to work on Canon gear.

Depends which lens it is.
If it's the 18-55 kit it may be cheaper to replace it than pay to have it dismantled and cleaned.

Did the camera survive this OK?

I have to say this... Even though the T1i and a kit lens may be considered "cheap junk" in the grand scheme of the dSLR and lens world, I think it's a shame that an incident like that should cause this much consternation and potential expense.

The problem is that it's my dads camera that he bought so he could use it, but he never does, so it's become "mine", and if he finds out the lens is full of dust, i'm screwed

I can still take clear pictures, but the rotating drum on the outside is far from smooth...