diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index dc5e9d36..e91db4c7 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
   GraphicsMagick over ImageMagick (thanks Mikhail)
 - fix the en_GB translation
 - use meta to preserve resunit between tiff load and save
+- small doc improvements
 
 25/1/08 started 7.14.0
 - bump all version numbers for new stable
diff --git a/libsrc/conversion/im_vips2tiff.c b/libsrc/conversion/im_vips2tiff.c
index 71397f04..15da73e0 100644
--- a/libsrc/conversion/im_vips2tiff.c
+++ b/libsrc/conversion/im_vips2tiff.c
@@ -1200,13 +1200,11 @@ make_tiff_write( IMAGE *im, const char *filename )
 	tw->resunit = RESUNIT_CENTIMETER;
 	tw->xres = im->Xres * 10;
 	tw->yres = im->Yres * 10;
-	if( im_meta_get_string( im, IM_META_RESOLUTION_UNIT, &p ) &&
-		strcmp( p, "in" ) ) {
+	if( !im_meta_get_string( im, IM_META_RESOLUTION_UNIT, &p ) &&
+		strcmp( p, "in" ) == 0 ) {
 		tw->resunit = RESUNIT_INCH;
-		tw->xres /= 2.54;
-		tw->yres /= 2.54;
-		// do I need this?
-		g_free( p );
+		tw->xres *= 2.54;
+		tw->yres *= 2.54;
 	}
 
 	/* Parse mode string.
diff --git a/man/im_meta.3 b/man/im_meta.3
index f251cbe3..5a3d9892 100644
--- a/man/im_meta.3
+++ b/man/im_meta.3
@@ -90,6 +90,12 @@ is a convenience function over
 It copies the string, and
 then shares that copy between all images derived from this IMAGE. 
 
+.B im_meta_get_string(3)
+is a convenience function over 
+.B im_meta_get_area(3). 
+It returns a pointer to the string being mananged by VIPS. Do not free the
+return result!
+
 .B im_meta_set_blob(3)
 sets a field which is a blob (binary object). A blob is just like string, 
 except that rather than being NULL-terminated, you must pass an explicit 
diff --git a/man/im_tiff2vips.3 b/man/im_tiff2vips.3
index a061516b..a3fb20f1 100644
--- a/man/im_tiff2vips.3
+++ b/man/im_tiff2vips.3
@@ -102,11 +102,15 @@ The default format is "multibit".
    "res_cm"   - output resolution unit is pixels per centimetre
    "res_inch" - output resolution unit is pixels per inch
 
-The default format is "res_cm".  The unit can optionally be followed by a
-":" character and the horizontal and vertical resolution, separated by a "x"
-character. You can have a single number with no "x" and set the horizontal
-and vertical resolutions together. The default unit is cm, and the default
-resolution is taken from the VIPS header.
+The default resolution unit is taken from the header field "resolution-unit"
+(IM_META_RESOLUTION_UNIT in C). If this field is not set, then VIPS defaults
+to cm.
+
+This may be overridden by the <resolution> option. The unit can optionally
+be followed by a ":" character and the horizontal and vertical resolution,
+separated by a "x" character. You can have a single number with no "x" and
+set the horizontal and vertical resolutions together. The default unit is
+cm, and the default resolution is taken from the VIPS header.
 
 <icc> is the filename of an ICC profile to embed in the TIFF file