diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index cee2872a..b34caa49 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 20/7/12 started 7.30.0
 - support "rs" mode in vips7
 - add --vips-version cmdline arg
+- fix --without-tiff / exr / jpeg / png / magick
 
 19/3/12 started 7.29.0
 - sanity-check PNG read geometry
diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_exr2vips.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_exr2vips.c
index 639e9c26..2498b535 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_exr2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_exr2vips.c
@@ -53,7 +53,13 @@
 int
 im_exr2vips( const char *filename, IMAGE *out )
 {
+#ifdef HAVE_OPENEXR
 	return( vips__openexr_read( filename, out ) ); 
+#else
+	vips_error( "im_exr2vips", _( "no OpenEXR support in your libvips" ) ); 
+
+	return( -1 );
+#endif /*HAVE_OPENEXR*/
 }
 
 static const char *exr_suffs[] = { ".exr", NULL };
diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_jpeg2vips.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_jpeg2vips.c
index d4c677eb..e90b6ee8 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_jpeg2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_jpeg2vips.c
@@ -110,9 +110,15 @@ jpeg2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 			return( -1 );
 	}
 
+#ifdef HAVE_JPEG
 	if( vips__jpeg_read_file( filename, out, 
 		header_only, shrink, fail_on_warn ) )
 		return( -1 );
+#else
+	vips_error( "im_jpeg2vips", _( "no JPEG support in your libvips" ) ); 
+
+	return( -1 );
+#endif /*HAVE_JPEG*/
 
 	return( 0 );
 }
diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_magick2vips.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_magick2vips.c
index 2cedd961..9595a83b 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_magick2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_magick2vips.c
@@ -46,7 +46,14 @@
 int
 im_magick2vips( const char *filename, IMAGE *out )
 {
+#ifdef HAVE_MAGICK
 	return( vips__magick_read( filename, out ) ); 
+#else
+	vips_error( "im_magick2vips", 
+		_( "no libMagick support in your libvips" ) ); 
+
+	return( -1 );
+#endif /*HAVE_MAGICK*/
 }
 
 static int
diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c
index 0475b982..a389361d 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ png2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 			return( -1 );
 	}
 
+#ifdef HAVE_PNG
 	if( header_only ) {
 		if( vips__png_header( filename, out ) )
 			return( -1 );
@@ -88,6 +89,11 @@ png2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 		if( vips__png_read( filename, out ) )
 			return( -1 );
 	}
+#else
+	vips_error( "im_png2vips", _( "no PNG support in your libvips" ) ); 
+
+	return( -1 );
+#endif /*HAVE_PNG*/
 
 	return( 0 );
 }
diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c
index acb899cd..f67f8a3a 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ tiff2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 			return( -1 );
 	}
 
+#ifdef HAVE_TIFF
 	if( header_only ) {
 		if( vips__tiff_read_header( filename, out, page ) )
 			return( -1 );
@@ -99,6 +100,11 @@ tiff2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 		if( vips__tiff_read( filename, out, page ) )
 			return( -1 );
 	}
+#else
+	vips_error( "im_tiff2vips", _( "no TIFF support in your libvips" ) ); 
+
+	return( -1 );
+#endif /*HAVE_TIFF*/
 
 	return( 0 );
 }