diff --git a/rtengine/rawimage.cc b/rtengine/rawimage.cc
index 6f98f1b4f..8bcf548a0 100644
--- a/rtengine/rawimage.cc
+++ b/rtengine/rawimage.cc
@@ -128,14 +128,13 @@ skip_block: ;
 
 int RawImage::loadRaw (bool loadData, bool closeFile)
 {
-  ifname = safe_locale_from_utf8(filename).c_str();
+  ifname = filename.c_str();
   image = NULL;
   verbose = settings->verbose;
   oprof = NULL;
 
-  ifp = gfopen (ifname);
-  if (!ifp)
-    return 3;
+  ifp = gfopen (ifname);  // Maps to either file map or direct fopen
+  if (!ifp) return 3;
 
   thumb_length = 0;
   thumb_offset = 0;
diff --git a/rtengine/rawimagesource.cc b/rtengine/rawimagesource.cc
index eec461ff9..7ca8ae6f9 100644
--- a/rtengine/rawimagesource.cc
+++ b/rtengine/rawimagesource.cc
@@ -884,9 +884,9 @@ int RawImageSource::load (Glib::ustring fname, bool batch) {
     }
 
     ri = new RawImage(fname);
-    int res = ri->loadRaw ();
-    if (res)
-        return res;
+    int errCode = ri->loadRaw ();
+    if (errCode) return errCode;
+
     ri->compress_image();
     if (plistener) {
         plistener->setProgress (0.8);