diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/tiff/ReaderWriterTIFF.cpp b/src/osgPlugins/tiff/ReaderWriterTIFF.cpp
index a6a0bf4aa..cb9a01d76 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/tiff/ReaderWriterTIFF.cpp
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/tiff/ReaderWriterTIFF.cpp
@@ -616,7 +616,11 @@ simage_tiff_load(std::istream& fin,
     }
     width_ret = width;
     height_ret = height;
-    numComponents_ret = samplesperpixel;
+    if (photometric == PHOTOMETRIC_PALETTE)
+        numComponents_ret = format;
+    else
+        numComponents_ret = samplesperpixel;
+
     return buffer;
 }