Index: trunk/src/com/drew/metadata/iptc/IptcReader.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/com/drew/metadata/iptc/IptcReader.java	(revision 10862)
+++ trunk/src/com/drew/metadata/iptc/IptcReader.java	(revision 13061)
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2016 Drew Noakes
+ * Copyright 2002-2017 Drew Noakes
  *
  *    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 import com.drew.metadata.Directory;
 import com.drew.metadata.Metadata;
+import com.drew.metadata.StringValue;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.util.Collections;
 
@@ -56,4 +58,5 @@
     public static final int POST_DATA_RECORD = 9;
 */
+    private static final byte IptcMarkerByte = 0x1c;
 
     @NotNull
@@ -67,5 +70,5 @@
         for (byte[] segmentBytes : segments) {
             // Ensure data starts with the IPTC marker byte
-            if (segmentBytes.length != 0 && segmentBytes[0] == 0x1c) {
+            if (segmentBytes.length != 0 && segmentBytes[0] == IptcMarkerByte) {
                 extract(new SequentialByteArrayReader(segmentBytes), metadata, segmentBytes.length);
             }
@@ -107,9 +110,9 @@
             }
 
-            if (startByte != 0x1c) {
+            if (startByte != IptcMarkerByte) {
                 // NOTE have seen images where there was one extra byte at the end, giving
                 // offset==length at this point, which is not worth logging as an error.
                 if (offset != length)
-                    directory.addError("Invalid IPTC tag marker at offset " + (offset - 1) + ". Expected '0x1c' but got '0x" + Integer.toHexString(startByte) + "'.");
+                    directory.addError("Invalid IPTC tag marker at offset " + (offset - 1) + ". Expected '0x" + Integer.toHexString(IptcMarkerByte) + "' but got '0x" + Integer.toHexString(startByte) + "'.");
                 return;
             }
@@ -164,16 +167,13 @@
         }
 
-        String string = null;
-
         switch (tagIdentifier) {
             case IptcDirectory.TAG_CODED_CHARACTER_SET:
                 byte[] bytes = reader.getBytes(tagByteCount);
-                String charset = Iso2022Converter.convertISO2022CharsetToJavaCharset(bytes);
-                if (charset == null) {
+                String charsetName = Iso2022Converter.convertISO2022CharsetToJavaCharset(bytes);
+                if (charsetName == null) {
                     // Unable to determine the charset, so fall through and treat tag as a regular string
-                    string = new String(bytes);
-                    break;
+                    charsetName = new String(bytes);
                 }
-                directory.setString(tagIdentifier, charset);
+                directory.setString(tagIdentifier, charsetName);
                 return;
             case IptcDirectory.TAG_ENVELOPE_RECORD_VERSION:
@@ -201,30 +201,36 @@
         // If we haven't returned yet, treat it as a string
         // NOTE that there's a chance we've already loaded the value as a string above, but failed to parse the value
-        if (string == null) {
-            String encoding = directory.getString(IptcDirectory.TAG_CODED_CHARACTER_SET);
-            if (encoding != null) {
-                string = reader.getString(tagByteCount, encoding);
-            } else {
-                byte[] bytes = reader.getBytes(tagByteCount);
-                encoding = Iso2022Converter.guessEncoding(bytes);
-                string = encoding != null ? new String(bytes, encoding) : new String(bytes);
-            }
+        String charSetName = directory.getString(IptcDirectory.TAG_CODED_CHARACTER_SET);
+        Charset charset = null;
+        try {
+            if (charSetName != null)
+                charset = Charset.forName(charSetName);
+        } catch (Throwable ignored) {
+        }
+
+        StringValue string;
+        if (charSetName != null) {
+            string = reader.getStringValue(tagByteCount, charset);
+        } else {
+            byte[] bytes = reader.getBytes(tagByteCount);
+            Charset charSet = Iso2022Converter.guessCharSet(bytes);
+            string = charSet != null ? new StringValue(bytes, charSet) : new StringValue(bytes, null);
         }
 
         if (directory.containsTag(tagIdentifier)) {
-            // this fancy string[] business avoids using an ArrayList for performance reasons
-            String[] oldStrings = directory.getStringArray(tagIdentifier);
-            String[] newStrings;
+            // this fancy StringValue[] business avoids using an ArrayList for performance reasons
+            StringValue[] oldStrings = directory.getStringValueArray(tagIdentifier);
+            StringValue[] newStrings;
             if (oldStrings == null) {
                 // TODO hitting this block means any prior value(s) are discarded
-                newStrings = new String[1];
+                newStrings = new StringValue[1];
             } else {
-                newStrings = new String[oldStrings.length + 1];
+                newStrings = new StringValue[oldStrings.length + 1];
                 System.arraycopy(oldStrings, 0, newStrings, 0, oldStrings.length);
             }
             newStrings[newStrings.length - 1] = string;
-            directory.setStringArray(tagIdentifier, newStrings);
+            directory.setStringValueArray(tagIdentifier, newStrings);
         } else {
-            directory.setString(tagIdentifier, string);
+            directory.setStringValue(tagIdentifier, string);
         }
     }