Don't let it get to become a bigger problem than it actually is.
Millions of people around the globe can cope with it.

Dust is everywhere, you are breathing dust as we speak. Some of the
dust is created by wear of camera parts. Most of it won't show up with
apertures wider than, say, f/8.0 and even then only on featureless
areas such as a blue sky.

Being prepared to occasionally clean the sensor area, will allow you
to do it yourself if it becomes a nuisance to clean it up in
postprocessing.

Don't be. It amazes me how much talk and worry such a non-issue generates.

It might be. Dust gets everywhere, and there will be some inside your
camera when you put the lens on. Some of it might stick to the sensor.
But it probably won't be an issue for you; if you're not changing lenses
the chances are you won't get dust in there.

Having a DSLR and not daring to use different lenses because of the risk
of dust would be a terrible waste. My advice is for you to ignore the
dust issue completely until you come across it. When you do so, buy some
swabs and learn how to clean the sensor. All DSLR owners have to learn
to do that sooner or later and once you've done it once you'll realise
how trivial the issue is.

I live in a very dusty environment, all the roads within 10 miles of my
house are dirt.  I use mostly fixed focal length lenses and change them
often.  I keep covers on the camera body when no lens is installed and on
both ends of the lenses when not being used.  I also have an ear syringe
which I use to gently blow dust off the CCD.  Donʼt let it worry you!

JakeInHartsel

I believe Howard Hughes had a similar problem with dust

Why not buy a good DSLR with a permanant zoom, like OlympusSP-500UZ or
Panasonic etc.

Bruce

Dust on a DSLR sensor is roughly as big a problem as fingerprints or
other smudges on the fronts of lenses.  Which is to say, if you're
careful, it doesn't happen often, and when it does happen, you take of
it - no big deal.

That said, you're also fooling yourself if you think you'll buy a DSLR
and then never want to get another lens...

---------------
Marc Sabatella
marc@outsideshore.com

Music, art,  & educational materials
Featuring "A Jazz Improvisation Primer"
http://www.outsideshore.com/

Ever consider that dust sometimes gets into lenses? That being the case,
there may be times when dust will get into a camera. Changes in
atmospheric pressure may cause dust to enter an unsealed camera even
with a full time lens being attached;  just as it may cause dust to
enter a lens.

Don't be overly concerned about dust. Consider the possibility that you
will add to your lens inventory. Should that happen, normally when
changing lenses, be sure the camera is turned off. When in a dusty or in
a wind blowing environment, use some common sense when changing lenses
and try to protect the open camera from being exposed to those
conditions. Frankly, I would guess the dust problem to be less a concern
using a dslr camera than dust entering a P&S camera.  One can wipe away
the dust in a dslr but a P&S would have to be cleaned by a tech. I use a
thin long handle soft hair artist brush to wipe away dust and don't need
to do that very often. Leastwise, not often enough to consider dust to
be a problem.

Gerrit 't Hart Wrote:

Sensor cleaning is 1) easy and 2) infrequent (though when I clean it
it is often more than one try).  Don't fret over it, and don'
compromise lens quality to avoid it.  One way to reduce dust is t
change lenses indoors.  This will also help to avoid wind blow
particles, which tend to be a bigger problem than dust, though muc
less frequent still.

Good luck and enjoy, what you should worry about is self control onc
that DSLR has you in it's grips!

-Mar

--
MASL

Do not worry about dust. The "dust problem" is all sales hype.

If you get dust on your sensor it is easily removed with a blower. If
that doesn't remove it, any of the commercial sensor cleaning kits work
just fine.

Even the cameras with anti-dust systems do not make the claim that your
sensor will *never* get dust on it or that it will never need some sort
of cleaning, but if you never change your lens you are unlikely to ever
get dust on the sensor. It could happen, though, especially in a camera
that is not weather sealed.