diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 62f44a0d..ba40e6d2 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 - try:
 
->>> from gi.repository import Vips
->>> x = Vips.Image.new_from_file("images/IMG_4618.jpg")
->>> x.get_value("exif-ifd0-Orientation")
-'1 (Top-left, Short, 1 components, 2 bytes)'
->>> x.set_value("exif-ifd0-Orientation", "2")
->>> x.write_to_file("x.jpg")
+	./test_foreign.py TestForeign.test_jpeg
 
-  Orientation comes out as zero in vipsheader -a x.jpg
+  the 2 is being lost somehow .... we set it, and can read it back, 
+  but when jpeg write loops over the header fields it just sees the 1
 
-  add a test-case for changing exif from py
+  works if we use vips format
+
+  works if we run from python shell
+
+  some kind of caching issue?
 
 
 
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/vips2jpeg.c b/libvips/foreign/vips2jpeg.c
index 51eb6a30..4eb0e66d 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/vips2jpeg.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/vips2jpeg.c
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ vips_exif_set_int( ExifData *ed,
 	offset = component * sizeof_component;
 
 	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_exif_set_int: %s = %d\n",
-		exif_tag_get_title( entry->tag ), value );
+		exif_tag_get_name( entry->tag ), value );
 
 	if( entry->format == EXIF_FORMAT_SHORT ) 
 		exif_set_short( entry->data + offset, bo, value );
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ vips_exif_set_rational( ExifData *ed,
 	offset = component * sizeof_component;
 
 	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_exif_set_rational: %s = \"%s\"\n",
-		exif_tag_get_title( entry->tag ), value );
+		exif_tag_get_name( entry->tag ), value );
 
 	if( entry->format == EXIF_FORMAT_RATIONAL ) {
 		ExifRational rv;
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@ vips_exif_set_double( ExifData *ed,
 	offset = component * sizeof_component;
 
 	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_exif_set_double: %s = %g\n",
-		exif_tag_get_title( entry->tag ), value );
+		exif_tag_get_name( entry->tag ), value );
 
 	if( entry->format == EXIF_FORMAT_RATIONAL ) {
 		ExifRational rv;
@@ -629,7 +629,6 @@ vips_exif_image_field( VipsImage *image,
 		return( NULL ); 
 	}
 
-	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_exif_image_field: %s = %s\n", p + 1, string ); 
 	write_tag( ed, ifd, tag, vips_exif_set_entry, (void *) string );
 
 	return( NULL ); 
@@ -640,8 +639,7 @@ vips_exif_update( ExifData *ed, VipsImage *image )
 {
 	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_exif_update: \n" );
 
-	vips_image_map( image, 
-		vips_exif_image_field, ed );
+	vips_image_map( image, vips_exif_image_field, ed );
 }
 
 #endif /*HAVE_EXIF*/
diff --git a/test/test_foreign.py b/test/test_foreign.py
index 96d1e1d1..731de9d8 100755
--- a/test/test_foreign.py
+++ b/test/test_foreign.py
@@ -142,6 +142,32 @@ class TestForeign(unittest.TestCase):
         self.save_load("%s.jpg", self.mono)
         self.save_load("%s.jpg", self.colour)
 
+        # see if we have exif parsing
+        have_exif = False
+        x = Vips.Image.new_from_file(self.jpeg_file)
+        try:
+            # our test image does have this field
+            y = x.get_value("exif-ifd0-Orientation")
+            have_exif = True
+        except:
+            pass
+
+        if have_exif:
+            print("have exif")
+            x.set_value("exif-ifd0-Orientation", "2")
+            y = x.get_value("exif-ifd0-Orientation")
+            print("orientation is", y)
+            x.write_to_file("test.jpg")
+            y = x.get_value("exif-ifd0-Orientation")
+            print("orientation is", y)
+            x = Vips.Image.new_from_file("test.jpg")
+            y = x.get_value("exif-ifd0-Orientation")
+            print("orientation is", y)
+            self.assertEqual(y[0], "2")
+
+            os.unlink("test.jpg")
+
+
     def test_png(self):
         x = Vips.type_find("VipsForeign", "pngload")
         if not x.is_instantiatable():