Has anyone ever sucessfully cleaned a DSLR sensor?

Get it professionally cleaned if you absolutely have to.

I’ve cleaned the sensor of my Canon rebel. Definitely didn’t ruin my gear, and got some dust off the sensor. All you really need is something to blow clean air into the camera, they sell little things made especially for this purpose. DON’T just blow on it! If you spit on your sensor you’re done. Basically you need to set the camera to the longest exposure you can, take off the lens, and set off the shutter. You’ll be able to see the sensor and blow on it with your little blow-thing to get some of the dust off. Make sure to do this in a CLEAN place (as little dust as possible, don’t do it outside or anywhere where something can be blown into your camera).

Don’t touch the sensor or try to wipe it with anything, that’s how people end up ruining their sensor – when they try to brush it off. That won’t end well! :)

But yeah, if you’re nervous you might want to get it professionally done. I did mine myself because I was in Alaska, so I didn’t know where to take it – plus I didn’t really have time to spare! Had to be out shooting the next day, didn’t want dust spots to clone out. Luckily my gamble paid off!

I’ve cleaned my sensor hundreds of times with the Copperhill Method:
http://www.copperhillimages.com/index.php?pr=Tutorials

Notably, you’re not actually cleaning the sensor itself, you’re cleaning the filter that’s in front of the sensor. That said, that filer may have some sort of coating, so read the instructions CAREFULLY since there are different fluids for different mfg’s glass.

I tried to clean it, ended up making it worse and just took it to a local shop and paid $55

:/