diff --git a/matlab/stimImageStack.m b/matlab/stimImageStack.m
deleted file mode 100644
index fecae35..0000000
--- a/matlab/stimImageStack.m
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-function S = stimImageStack(filemask)
-    files = dir(filemask);
-
-    %figure out the file size
-    I = imread([files(1).folder '/' files(1).name]);
-    X = size(I, 1);
-    Y = size(I, 2);
-    Z = length(files);
-
-    S = zeros(X, Y, Z, 'uint8');
-
-    h = waitbar(0, ['Loading ' num2str(Z) ' images...']);
-    for i = 1:Z    
-        I = rgb2gray(imread([files(1).folder '/' files(1).name]));
-        S(:, :, i) = I;
-        waitbar(i/Z, h);
-    end
-    close(h);
-end
-    
-
diff --git a/matlab/stim_images2matrix.m b/matlab/stim_images2matrix.m
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..edb3a33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/matlab/stim_images2matrix.m
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+function S = stim_images2matrix(filemask)
+%This function loads a set of images as a 3D matrix. Color images are
+%converted to grayscale when loaded, so the resulting matrix is always 3D
+%with size X x Y x Z, where:
+%   X is the size of the images along the X axis
+%   Y is the size of the images along the Y axis
+%   Z is the number of images
+%
+%   all images are assumed to be the same size (though they do not have to
+%   be the same file format or number of bits per pixel
+
+    files = dir(filemask);
+
+    %figure out the file size
+    I = imread([files(1).folder '/' files(1).name]);
+    X = size(I, 1);
+    Y = size(I, 2);
+    Z = length(files);
+
+    S = zeros(X, Y, Z, 'uint8');
+
+    h = waitbar(0, ['Loading ' num2str(Z) ' images...']);
+    for i = 1:Z    
+        I = rgb2gray(imread([files(1).folder '/' files(1).name]));
+        S(:, :, i) = I;
+        waitbar(i/Z, h);
+    end
+    close(h);
+end
+    
+
diff --git a/stim/image/image.h b/stim/image/image.h
index b001232..97a15dd 100644
--- a/stim/image/image.h
+++ b/stim/image/image.h
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ class image{
 	void allocate(){
 		unalloc();
 		img = (T*) malloc( sizeof(T) * R[0] * R[1] * R[2] );	//allocate memory
+		if (img == NULL) {
+			std::cout << "stim::image ERROR - failed to allocate memory for image" << std::endl;
+			exit(1);
+		}
 	}
 
 	void allocate(size_t x, size_t y, size_t c){	//allocate memory based on the resolution
@@ -228,6 +232,14 @@ public:
 		}
 	}
 #endif
+	//Copy N data points from source to dest, casting while doing so
+	template<typename S, typename D>
+	void type_copy(S* source, D* dest, size_t N) {
+		if (typeid(S) == typeid(D))						//if both types are the same
+			memcpy(dest, source, N * sizeof(S));		//just use a memcpy
+		for (size_t n = 0; n < N; n++)					//otherwise, iterate through each element
+			dest[n] = (D)source[n];							//copy and cast
+	}
 	/// Load an image from a file
 	void load(std::string filename){
 #ifdef USING_OPENCV
@@ -236,13 +248,15 @@ public:
 			std::cout<<"ERROR stim::image::load() - unable to find image "<<filename<<std::endl;
 			exit(1);
 		}
+		int cv_type = cvImage.type();
 		int cols = cvImage.cols;
 		int rows = cvImage.rows;
 		int channels = cvImage.channels();
 		allocate(cols, rows, channels);			//allocate space for the image
+		size_t img_bytes = bytes();
 		unsigned char* cv_ptr = (unsigned char*)cvImage.data;
-		if(C() == 1)														//if this is a single-color image, just copy the data
-			memcpy(img, cv_ptr, bytes());
+		if (C() == 1)														//if this is a single-color image, just copy the data
+			type_copy<unsigned char, T>(cv_ptr, img, size());
 		if(C() == 3)														//if this is a 3-color image, OpenCV uses BGR interleaving
 			from_opencv(cv_ptr, X(), Y());
 #else
--
libgit2 0.21.4