diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 62114dc2..fa92485f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 27/9/16 started 8.4.2
 - small doc improvements
+- fix error message for metadata fetch type mismatch
 
 1/5/16 started 8.4
 - many more wepsave options [Felix Bünemann]
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/header.c b/libvips/iofuncs/header.c
index 2ee3b7d8..61b3f85c 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/header.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/header.c
@@ -1225,7 +1225,7 @@ meta_get_value( const VipsImage *image,
 		vips_error( "VipsImage",
 			_( "field \"%s\" is of type %s, not %s" ),
 			field,
-			g_type_name( G_VALUE_TYPE( value_copy ) ),
+			g_type_name( G_VALUE_TYPE( &value ) ),
 			g_type_name( type ) );
 		g_value_unset( &value );