diff --git a/diffpy/srxplanar/loadimage.py b/diffpy/srxplanar/loadimage.py
index 5a2c660..5d73db4 100644
--- a/diffpy/srxplanar/loadimage.py
+++ b/diffpy/srxplanar/loadimage.py
@@ -19,20 +19,43 @@
 import fnmatch
 import sys
 from diffpy.srxplanar.srxplanarconfig import _configPropertyR
+import tifffile
 from tifffile import imsave as saveImage
+import subprocess
+import numpy as np
 
-try:
-    import fabio
-
-    def openImage(im):
-        rv = fabio.openimage.openimage(im)
-        return rv.data
-except:
-    import tifffile
 
-    def openImage(im):
-        rv = tifffile.imread(im)
-        return rv
+def openImage(im):
+    ext = os.path.splitext(im)[1].lower()
+    try:
+        if ext == '.txt':
+            rv = np.loadtxt(im)
+        elif ext == '.dm3':
+            import DM3lib
+            dm3 = DM3lib.DM3(im)
+            rv = dm3.imagedata
+        elif ext in ['.tiff', '.tif']:
+            rv = tifffile.imread(im)
+            if len(rv.shape) == 3:
+                ind = rv.shape.index(min(rv.shape))
+                rv = rv.mean(axis=ind)
+        else:
+            code = 'import numpy; import fabio; numpy.save("temp.npy", fabio.openimage.openimage("%s").data)' % im
+            cmd = [sys.executable, '-c', "'" + code + "'"]
+            p = subprocess.Popen(cmd)
+            p.wait()
+            rv = np.load('temp.npy')
+            try:
+                os.remove('temp.npy')
+            except:
+                pass
+            try:
+                p.terminate()
+            except:
+                pass
+    except:
+        rv = None
+    return rv
 
 
 class LoadImage(object):