diff --git a/include/mapnik/image.hpp b/include/mapnik/image.hpp
index d35b2cebc..d9e6d5243 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/image.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/image.hpp
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 #ifndef MAPNIK_IMAGE_HPP
 #define MAPNIK_IMAGE_HPP
 
-#include <mapnik/noncopyable.hpp>
 #include <mapnik/image_data_any.hpp>
 
 namespace mapnik {
diff --git a/include/mapnik/tiff_io.hpp b/include/mapnik/tiff_io.hpp
index af60309d1..33dbf4a11 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/tiff_io.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/tiff_io.hpp
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ struct tag_setter
         tiff_config config_;
 };
 
-void set_tiff_config(TIFF* output, tiff_config & config)
+inline void set_tiff_config(TIFF* output, tiff_config & config)
 {
     // Set some constant tiff information that doesn't vary based on type of data
     // or image size
diff --git a/src/image.cpp b/src/image.cpp
index 11b8ad33b..f7728fe62 100644
--- a/src/image.cpp
+++ b/src/image.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@
 #include <mapnik/image.hpp>
 #include <mapnik/image_reader.hpp>
 #include <mapnik/image_util.hpp>
+#include <mapnik/tiff_io.hpp>
+
+#include <fstream>
 
 namespace mapnik {
 
@@ -63,8 +66,29 @@ struct save_to_file_visitor
         save_to_file(data,filename_, format_);
     }
 
+    void operator() (image_data_gray16 const& data) const
+    {
+        if (format_ == "tiff") // only TIFF supported
+        {
+            std::ofstream file (filename_.c_str(), std::ios::out| std::ios::trunc|std::ios::binary);
+            if (file)
+            {
+                tiff_config config;
+                save_as_tiff(file, data, config);
+            }
+            else throw ImageWriterException("Could not write file to " + filename_ );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            throw std::runtime_error("Error: saving gray16 image as " + format_  + " is not supported");
+        }
+    }
+
     template <typename T>
-    void operator() (T const& data) const {}
+    void operator() (T const& data) const
+    {
+        throw std::runtime_error("Error: saving " + std::string(typeid(data).name()) + " as " + format_  + " is not supported");
+    }
 
     std::string const& filename_;
     std::string const& format_;