Dust!

[Duane]

I'm not sure where to put this thread, sorry if it's in the wrong section. I'm totally bummed out at the moment and I'll explain, followed by a question.

Today I was cleaning my 50mm lens and noticed a fairly large triangular shaped spec. It's to large for me to consider dust. So with careful inspection, it turns out to be inside the lens :(. Well it’s not the end of the world I suppose as it was a $130. Purchase which can be replaced I suppose. Still $130. is a fair bit of coin to me. It does get worse... I removed the cap of my 17-85mm for a cleaning and I can count at least a dozen specs on the underside of the lens! I cleaned it well, and yes they are definitely inside the lens. Now there is also two much larger specs in there as well but they are not resting right on the glass.

My question is... is there anything that I can do? My 17-85mm was around $700. - $800! That to me is a whole lot of scrimping and saving that I don’t want to do again for a lens I already own. Can the lens be cleaned somehow? I wouldn’t imaging so because it’s on the inside... I’m totally bummed out at the moment...

Edit:
I figured that I'd mention that I'm always very careful with my lenses! The caps are always on and they are usually always left in my camera bag while not in use. If I sit my camera down for just one minute, I'll put the cap on it.

Edit Again:
I might be over reacting with a little reading. I took a few photos and the dust does not show up in the images that I can see. I'm not nearly as bummed out but still slightly. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I hate looking at a nice shiney piece of glass with dust that is out of my reach! especially when I've spent so much on the 17-85mm. Oh well... I'm still a bit curious on the cleaning side of it. I know that I would never be able to undertake such a task, but I figuered that perhaps a proffesional? I'd guess that would be expensive, especially for somthing that isn't necesarily affecting the performance of the lens.

[tirediron]

I doubt it's a problem; at least half of my glass has visible "stuff" inside the body, and I'm always very careful. Do a test shot (max aperture, blank wall) and to see if it shows up, but I doubt it will. You'd be amazed at what can happen to a lens and not affect a photo.

[Mad Aussie]

TI's right. Your lens' focusing distance is way out past the front element so even obvious scratches often don't show up in your photo. IF they do ... you might have to use wider apertures where possible to make them 'go away.'

[Iguanasan]

Sorry for being an idiot but how does dust get into a closed system? Are lenses not somewhat sealed?

[Greg_Nuspel]

Somewhat is the clue.