Vibrations with the Pentax K T-mount prompted me to fabricate a more stable mount for the SD9 on my microscope. The bayonet plate came directly from Sigma (it is the Sigma SA bayonet mount that is found on the back side of all lenses used with the camera). I modified an old Olympus T-mount I had on hand. I removed the aluminum bayonet, filed the broken edge smooth, and attached the SA plate to the OLY T-mount with epoxy. Centration was easy: on the back of the SA plate, there are three stepped ridges, and the smoothed T-mount fit directly into the middle ridge. I added additional epoxy (JB-Weld, steel formula) to the outer and inner edges of the joint. The threaded side of the OLY T-mount was left unmodified. The fabricated T-mount is about 0.5 mm thicker than the commercially available Pentax K T-mount. The upper and lower paired views of the fabricated and commercially available Pentax mounts show similarities and differences. The image in the lower right shows the fabricated mount attached to the Zeiss Axiovert Microscope stand.

Both focus and centration with the fabricated T-mount are spot-on, and the SD9 camera body is firmly attached to the microscope.