Index: src/_png.cpp
===================================================================
--- src/_png.cpp	(revision 7230)
+++ src/_png.cpp	(working copy)
@@ -178,8 +178,11 @@
 Py::Object
 _png_module::read_png(const Py::Tuple& args) {
 
-  args.verify_length(1);
+  args.verify_length(1,2);
   std::string fname = Py::String(args[0]);
+  bool raw = false;
+  if (args.length() == 2)
+    raw = Py::Boolean(args[1]);
 
   png_byte header[8];	// 8 is the maximum size that can be checked
 
@@ -213,16 +216,21 @@
   png_uint_32 width = info_ptr->width;
   png_uint_32 height = info_ptr->height;
 
+  // Bit depth can be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16
   int bit_depth = info_ptr->bit_depth;
-
+  double max_value = (1 << bit_depth) - 1; // For scaling later
   // Unpack 1, 2, and 4-bit images
   if (bit_depth < 8)
     png_set_packing(png_ptr);
 
-  // If sig bits are set, shift data
+  // If a pngs max value does not use the full bit depth, then values are shifted up during writing.
+  // This shifts them back and then recalculates max_value
   png_color_8p sig_bit;
   if ((info_ptr->color_type != PNG_COLOR_TYPE_PALETTE) && png_get_sBIT(png_ptr, info_ptr, &sig_bit))
+  {
     png_set_shift(png_ptr, sig_bit);
+	max_value = (1 << sig_bit->red) - 1; // RGB values appear to always be equal
+  }
 
   // Convert big endian to little
   if (bit_depth == 16)
@@ -260,12 +268,13 @@
     dimensions[2] = 3;     //RGB images
   else
     dimensions[2] = 1;     //Greyscale images
+
   //For gray, return an x by y array, not an x by y by 1
   int num_dims  = (info_ptr->color_type & PNG_COLOR_MASK_COLOR) ? 3 : 2;
+  
+  // If read mode is raw give back ints, otherwise float between 0 and 1
+  PyArrayObject *A = (PyArrayObject *) PyArray_SimpleNew(num_dims, dimensions, (raw) ? PyArray_UINT16 : PyArray_FLOAT);
 
-  double max_value = (1 << ((bit_depth < 8) ? 8 : bit_depth)) - 1;
-  PyArrayObject *A = (PyArrayObject *) PyArray_SimpleNew(num_dims, dimensions, PyArray_FLOAT);
-
   for (png_uint_32 y = 0; y < height; y++) {
     png_byte* row = row_pointers[y];
 	for (png_uint_32 x = 0; x < width; x++) {
@@ -273,13 +282,13 @@
 	  if (bit_depth == 16) {
 	    png_uint_16* ptr = &reinterpret_cast<png_uint_16*> (row)[x * dimensions[2]];
             for (png_uint_32 p = 0; p < (png_uint_32)dimensions[2]; p++)
-	      *(float*)(A->data + offset + p*A->strides[2]) = (float)(ptr[p]) / max_value;
+			  raw ? *reinterpret_cast<unsigned short*>(A->data + offset + p*A->strides[2]) = ptr[p] :
+	                *reinterpret_cast<float*>(A->data + offset + p*A->strides[2]) = static_cast<float>(ptr[p]) / max_value;
 	  } else {
 	    png_byte* ptr = &(row[x * dimensions[2]]);
 	    for (png_uint_32 p = 0; p < (png_uint_32)dimensions[2]; p++)
-		{
-	      *(float*)(A->data + offset + p*A->strides[2]) = (float)(ptr[p]) / max_value;
-	    }
+		  raw ? *reinterpret_cast<unsigned short*>(A->data + offset + p*A->strides[2]) = ptr[p] :
+	            *reinterpret_cast<float*>(A->data + offset + p*A->strides[2]) = static_cast<float>(ptr[p]) / max_value;
 	  }
     }
   }
Index: lib/matplotlib/image.py
===================================================================
--- lib/matplotlib/image.py	(revision 7230)
+++ lib/matplotlib/image.py	(working copy)
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@
         rows, cols, buffer = im.as_rgba_str()
         _png.write_png(buffer, cols, rows, fname)
 
-def imread(fname):
+def imread(fname, raw=False):
     """
     Return image file in *fname* as :class:`numpy.array`.
 
@@ -773,7 +773,7 @@
         return im
 
     handler = handlers[ext]
-    return handler(fname)
+    return handler(fname, raw)
 
 
 def imsave(fname, arr, vmin=None, vmax=None, cmap=None, format=None, origin=None):
Index: examples/tests/pngsuite/pngsuite.py
===================================================================
--- examples/tests/pngsuite/pngsuite.py	(revision 7230)
+++ examples/tests/pngsuite/pngsuite.py	(working copy)
@@ -24,6 +24,6 @@
         cmap = cm.gray
     plt.imshow(data, extent=[i,i+1,0,1], cmap=cmap)
 
-plt.gca().get_frame().set_facecolor("#ddffff")
+plt.gca().patch.set_facecolor("#ddffff")
 plt.gca().set_xlim(0, len(files))
 plt.show()