NB>> array(im.getdata(), typecode=3DInt) Rob> Isn't that much slower than Numeric.fromstring(image.tostring())? are you sure about that? i actually asked this question some time back = on the numeric group, whether getdata was faster/slower than fromstring,= =20 but there was no reply. i'm interested to know if it's really true=20 because i'll start using it instead. :) wouldn't mind knowing why either.