diff --git a/src/traces/image/attributes.js b/src/traces/image/attributes.js
index c41d7aa4e0c..ac193e559a0 100644
--- a/src/traces/image/attributes.js
+++ b/src/traces/image/attributes.js
@@ -35,19 +35,19 @@ module.exports = extendFlat({
         values: cm,
         dflt: 'rgb',
         role: 'info',
-        editType: 'plot',
+        editType: 'calc',
         description: 'Color model used to map the numerical color components described in `z` into colors.'
     },
     zmin: {
         valType: 'info_array',
         items: [
-            {valType: 'number', editType: 'plot'},
-            {valType: 'number', editType: 'plot'},
-            {valType: 'number', editType: 'plot'},
-            {valType: 'number', editType: 'plot'}
+            {valType: 'number', editType: 'calc'},
+            {valType: 'number', editType: 'calc'},
+            {valType: 'number', editType: 'calc'},
+            {valType: 'number', editType: 'calc'}
         ],
         role: 'info',
-        editType: 'plot',
+        editType: 'calc',
         description: [
             'Array defining the lower bound for each color component.',
             'Note that the default value will depend on the colormodel.',
@@ -57,13 +57,13 @@ module.exports = extendFlat({
     zmax: {
         valType: 'info_array',
         items: [
-            {valType: 'number', editType: 'plot'},
-            {valType: 'number', editType: 'plot'},
-            {valType: 'number', editType: 'plot'},
-            {valType: 'number', editType: 'plot'}
+            {valType: 'number', editType: 'calc'},
+            {valType: 'number', editType: 'calc'},
+            {valType: 'number', editType: 'calc'},
+            {valType: 'number', editType: 'calc'}
         ],
         role: 'info',
-        editType: 'plot',
+        editType: 'calc',
         description: [
             'Array defining the higher bound for each color component.',
             'Note that the default value will depend on the colormodel.',
diff --git a/src/traces/image/calc.js b/src/traces/image/calc.js
index e826c3c2a5a..db3df881b78 100644
--- a/src/traces/image/calc.js
+++ b/src/traces/image/calc.js
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 
 'use strict';
 
+var Lib = require('../../lib');
+var constants = require('./constants');
+var isNumeric = require('fast-isnumeric');
 var Axes = require('../../plots/cartesian/axes');
 var maxRowLength = require('../../lib').maxRowLength;
 
@@ -28,6 +31,7 @@ module.exports = function calc(gd, trace) {
     if(ya && ya.type === 'log') for(i = 0; i < h; i++) yrange.push(y0 + i * trace.dy);
     trace._extremes[xa._id] = Axes.findExtremes(xa, xrange);
     trace._extremes[ya._id] = Axes.findExtremes(ya, yrange);
+    trace._scaler = makeScaler(trace);
 
     var cd0 = {
         x0: x0,
@@ -38,3 +42,45 @@ module.exports = function calc(gd, trace) {
     };
     return [cd0];
 };
+
+function scale(zero, ratio, min, max) {
+    return function(c) {
+        return Lib.constrain((c - zero) * ratio, min, max);
+    };
+}
+
+function constrain(min, max) {
+    return function(c) { return Lib.constrain(c, min, max);};
+}
+
+// Generate a function to scale color components according to zmin/zmax and the colormodel
+function makeScaler(trace) {
+    var colormodel = trace.colormodel;
+    var n = colormodel.length;
+    var cr = constants.colormodel[colormodel];
+
+    trace._sArray = [];
+    // Loop over all color components
+    for(var k = 0; k < n; k++) {
+        if(cr.min[k] !== trace.zmin[k] || cr.max[k] !== trace.zmax[k]) {
+            trace._sArray.push(scale(
+                trace.zmin[k],
+                (cr.max[k] - cr.min[k]) / (trace.zmax[k] - trace.zmin[k]),
+                cr.min[k],
+                cr.max[k]
+            ));
+        } else {
+            trace._sArray.push(constrain(cr.min[k], cr.max[k]));
+        }
+    }
+
+    return function(pixel) {
+        var c = pixel.slice(0, n);
+        for(var k = 0; k < n; k++) {
+            var ck = c[k];
+            if(!isNumeric(ck)) return false;
+            c[k] = trace._sArray[k](ck);
+        }
+        return c;
+    };
+}
diff --git a/src/traces/image/constants.js b/src/traces/image/constants.js
index 865c340ff40..1a4570c3f1c 100644
--- a/src/traces/image/constants.js
+++ b/src/traces/image/constants.js
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
 */
 
-
 'use strict';
 
 module.exports = {
diff --git a/src/traces/image/defaults.js b/src/traces/image/defaults.js
index ee55ee8859f..c2ebd3c3310 100644
--- a/src/traces/image/defaults.js
+++ b/src/traces/image/defaults.js
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
 */
 
-
 'use strict';
 
 var Lib = require('../../lib');
diff --git a/src/traces/image/index.js b/src/traces/image/index.js
index 69c58b5fed9..9ae0c9542be 100644
--- a/src/traces/image/index.js
+++ b/src/traces/image/index.js
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ module.exports = {
     attributes: require('./attributes'),
     supplyDefaults: require('./defaults'),
     calc: require('./calc'),
-    plot: require('./plot').plot,
+    plot: require('./plot'),
     style: require('./style'),
     hoverPoints: require('./hover'),
     eventData: require('./event_data'),
diff --git a/src/traces/image/plot.js b/src/traces/image/plot.js
index e0f6087f8a4..851c1772c11 100644
--- a/src/traces/image/plot.js
+++ b/src/traces/image/plot.js
@@ -7,55 +7,13 @@
 */
 
 'use strict';
+
 var d3 = require('d3');
 var Lib = require('../../lib');
 var xmlnsNamespaces = require('../../constants/xmlns_namespaces');
 var constants = require('./constants');
 
-module.exports = {};
-
-// Generate a function to scale color components according to zmin/zmax and the colormodel
-var scaler = function(trace) {
-    var colormodel = trace.colormodel;
-    var n = colormodel.length;
-    var cr = constants.colormodel[colormodel];
-
-    function scale(zero, factor, min, max) {
-        return function(c) {
-            c = (c - zero) * factor;
-            c = Lib.constrain(c, min, max);
-            return c;
-        };
-    }
-
-    function constrain(min, max) {
-        return function(c) { return Lib.constrain(c, min, max);};
-    }
-
-    var s = [];
-    // Loop over all color components
-    for(var k = 0; k < n; k++) {
-        if(cr.min[k] !== trace.zmin[k] || cr.max[k] !== trace.zmax[k]) {
-            s.push(scale(
-                trace.zmin[k],
-                (cr.max[k] - cr.min[k]) / (trace.zmax[k] - trace.zmin[k]),
-                cr.min[k],
-                cr.max[k]
-            ));
-        } else {
-            s.push(constrain(cr.min[k], cr.max[k]));
-        }
-    }
-
-    return function(pixel) {
-        var c = pixel.slice(0, n);
-        for(var k = 0; k < n; k++) {
-            c[k] = s[k](c[k]);
-        }
-        return c;
-    };
-};
-module.exports.plot = function(gd, plotinfo, cdimage, imageLayer) {
+module.exports = function plot(gd, plotinfo, cdimage, imageLayer) {
     var xa = plotinfo.xaxis;
     var ya = plotinfo.yaxis;
 
@@ -129,10 +87,10 @@ module.exports.plot = function(gd, plotinfo, cdimage, imageLayer) {
         canvas.width = imageWidth;
         canvas.height = imageHeight;
         var context = canvas.getContext('2d');
+
         var ipx = function(i) {return Lib.constrain(Math.round(xa.c2p(x0 + i * dx) - left), 0, imageWidth);};
         var jpx = function(j) {return Lib.constrain(Math.round(ya.c2p(y0 + j * dy) - top), 0, imageHeight);};
 
-        trace._scaler = scaler(trace);
         var fmt = constants.colormodel[trace.colormodel].fmt;
         var c;
         for(i = 0; i < cd0.w; i++) {
@@ -142,7 +100,12 @@ module.exports.plot = function(gd, plotinfo, cdimage, imageLayer) {
                 var jpx0 = jpx(j); var jpx1 = jpx(j + 1);
                 if(jpx1 === jpx0 || isNaN(jpx1) || isNaN(jpx0) || !z[j][i]) continue;
                 c = trace._scaler(z[j][i]);
-                context.fillStyle = trace.colormodel + '(' + fmt(c).join(',') + ')';
+                if(c) {
+                    context.fillStyle = trace.colormodel + '(' + fmt(c).join(',') + ')';
+                } else {
+                    // Return a transparent pixel
+                    context.fillStyle = 'rgba(0,0,0,0)';
+                }
                 context.fillRect(ipx0, jpx0, ipx1 - ipx0, jpx1 - jpx0);
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/traces/image/style.js b/src/traces/image/style.js
index 9f98c4f4bd2..efb79761b32 100644
--- a/src/traces/image/style.js
+++ b/src/traces/image/style.js
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
 */
 
-
 'use strict';
 
 var d3 = require('d3');
diff --git a/test/image/baselines/image_non_numeric.png b/test/image/baselines/image_non_numeric.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..78da6e369b1
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/baselines/image_non_numeric.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/image_non_numeric.json b/test/image/mocks/image_non_numeric.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b5ca58be16c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/image/mocks/image_non_numeric.json
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+{
+  "data": [{
+    "type": "image",
+    "hoverinfo": "all",
+    "z": [
+      [
+        [255, 0, 0],
+        [191, 0, 0],
+        [127, 0, 0]
+      ],
+      [
+        [0, 255, 0],
+        [0, 191, 0],
+        [0, 127, 0]
+      ],
+      [
+        [0, 0, 255],
+        [0, 0, 191],
+        [0, 0, 127]
+      ]
+    ]
+  }, {
+    "yaxis": "y2",
+    "xaxis": "x2",
+    "type": "image",
+    "hoverinfo": "all",
+    "z": [
+      [
+        [255, 0, 0],
+        [191, 0, null],
+        [127, 0, 0]
+      ],
+      [
+        [0, 255, 0],
+        [false, 191, 0],
+        [0, 127, 0]
+      ],
+      [
+        [0, 0, 255],
+        [0, true, 191],
+        [0, 0, 127]
+      ]
+    ]
+  }, {
+    "yaxis": "y3",
+    "xaxis": "x3",
+    "type": "image",
+    "hoverinfo": "all",
+    "z": [
+      [
+        [255, 0, 0],
+        [191, 0, 0],
+        [-10000, 0, 0]
+      ],
+      [
+        [0, 255, 0],
+        [0, "", 0],
+        [0, 127, 0]
+      ],
+      [
+        [0, 0, 10000],
+        [0, 0, 191],
+        [0, 0, 127]
+      ]
+    ]
+  }, {
+    "yaxis": "y4",
+    "xaxis": "x4",
+    "type": "image",
+    "hoverinfo": "all",
+    "z": [
+      [
+        [255, 0],
+        [191, 0, null],
+        [127, 0, ""]
+      ],
+      [
+        [true, 255, 0],
+        [false, 191, 0],
+        ["text", 127, 0]
+      ],
+      []
+    ]
+  }],
+  "layout": {
+    "width": 600,
+    "height": 600,
+    "grid": {
+      "rows": 2,
+      "columns": 2,
+      "pattern": "independent"
+    }
+  }
+}