diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 879a5944..f4285665 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ Changes
       errors in a FITS file.  Currently this only raises when extensions
       are not properly marked with XTENSION but we can expand this over time
 
+Bug Fixes
+
+    - Bug not writing compression qlevel when it is set to None/0.0
+      This was preventing lossless gzip compression
 
 version 1.2.0
 --------------
diff --git a/fitsio/__init__.py b/fitsio/__init__.py
index 6b34a503..e8acf9cc 100644
--- a/fitsio/__init__.py
+++ b/fitsio/__init__.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 usage.
 """
 
-__version__ = '1.2.0'
+__version__ = '1.2.1'
 
 from . import fitslib
 
diff --git a/fitsio/fitsio_pywrap.c b/fitsio/fitsio_pywrap.c
index 09732e30..a71d42f5 100644
--- a/fitsio/fitsio_pywrap.c
+++ b/fitsio/fitsio_pywrap.c
@@ -1485,10 +1485,8 @@ PyFITSObject_create_image_hdu(struct PyFITSObject* self, PyObject* args, PyObjec
                 goto create_image_hdu_cleanup;
             }
 
-            if (qlevel > 0) {
-                if (fits_set_quantize_level(self->fits, qlevel, &status)) {
-                    goto create_image_hdu_cleanup;
-                }
+            if (fits_set_quantize_level(self->fits, qlevel, &status)) {
+                goto create_image_hdu_cleanup;
             }
 
             if (fits_set_quantize_method(self->fits, qmethod, &status)) {
diff --git a/fitsio/tests/test_image_compression.py b/fitsio/tests/test_image_compression.py
index 51de922c..c2c0c0be 100644
--- a/fitsio/tests/test_image_compression.py
+++ b/fitsio/tests/test_image_compression.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 from ..fitslib import (
     FITS,
     read,
+    write,
 )
 
 
@@ -32,6 +33,80 @@ def test_compressed_write_read(compress):
     """
     nrows = 5
     ncols = 20
+    if compress in ['rice', 'hcompress'] or 'gzip' in compress:
+        dtypes = ['u1', 'i1', 'u2', 'i2', 'u4', 'i4', 'f4', 'f8']
+    elif compress == 'plio':
+        dtypes = ['i1', 'i2', 'i4', 'f4', 'f8']
+    else:
+        raise ValueError('unexpected compress %s' % compress)
+
+    if 'lossless' in compress:
+        qlevel = None
+    else:
+        qlevel = 16
+
+    seed = 1919
+    rng = np.random.RandomState(seed)
+
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+        fname = os.path.join(tmpdir, 'test.fits')
+
+        for ext, dtype in enumerate(dtypes):
+            if dtype[0] == 'f':
+                data = rng.normal(size=(nrows, ncols))
+                if compress == 'plio':
+                    data = data.clip(min=0)
+                data = data.astype(dtype)
+            else:
+                data = np.arange(
+                    nrows * ncols, dtype=dtype,
+                ).reshape(nrows, ncols)
+
+            csend = compress.replace('_lossless', '')
+            write(fname, data, compress=csend, qlevel=qlevel)
+            rdata = read(fname, ext=ext+1)
+
+            if 'lossless' in compress or dtype[0] in ['i', 'u']:
+                compare_array(
+                    data, rdata,
+                    "%s compressed images ('%s')" % (compress, dtype)
+                )
+            else:
+                # lossy floating point
+                compare_array_abstol(
+                    data,
+                    rdata,
+                    0.2,
+                    "%s compressed images ('%s')" % (compress, dtype),
+                )
+
+        with FITS(fname) as fits:
+            for ii in range(len(dtypes)):
+                i = ii + 1
+                assert fits[i].is_compressed(), "is compressed"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    'compress',
+    [
+        'rice',
+        'hcompress',
+        'plio',
+        'gzip',
+        'gzip_2',
+        'gzip_lossless',
+        'gzip_2_lossless',
+    ]
+)
+def _test_compressed_write_read_fitsobj(compress):
+    """
+    Test writing and reading a rice compressed image
+
+    This one fails because the compressed data do not seem to be
+    finalized
+    """
+    nrows = 5
+    ncols = 20
     if compress in ['rice', 'hcompress'] or 'gzip' in compress:
         dtypes = ['u1', 'i1', 'u2', 'i2', 'u4', 'i4', 'f4', 'f8']
         # dtypes = ['u2']
@@ -69,14 +144,7 @@ def test_compressed_write_read(compress):
                 fits.write_image(data, compress=csend, qlevel=qlevel)
                 rdata = fits[-1].read()
 
-                if dtype[0] == 'f':
-                    compare_array_abstol(
-                        data,
-                        rdata,
-                        0.2,
-                        "%s compressed images ('%s')" % (compress, dtype),
-                    )
-                else:
+                if 'lossless' in compress or dtype[0] in ['i', 'u']:
                     # for integers we have chosen a wide range of values, so
                     # there will be no quantization and we expect no
                     # information loss
@@ -84,6 +152,22 @@ def test_compressed_write_read(compress):
                         data, rdata,
                         "%s compressed images ('%s')" % (compress, dtype)
                     )
+                else:
+                    # lossy floating point
+                    compare_array_abstol(
+                        data,
+                        rdata,
+                        0.2,
+                        "%s compressed images ('%s')" % (compress, dtype),
+                    )
+                # else:
+                #     # for integers we have chosen a wide range of values, so
+                #     # there will be no quantization and we expect no
+                #     # information loss
+                #     compare_array(
+                #         data, rdata,
+                #         "%s compressed images ('%s')" % (compress, dtype)
+                #     )
 
         with FITS(fname) as fits:
             for ii in range(len(dtypes)):
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4fc5fae3..63d85f39 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ def check_system_cfitsio_objects(self, obj_name):
 
 setup(
     name="fitsio",
-    version="1.2.0",
+    version="1.2.1",
     description=description,
     long_description=long_description,
     long_description_content_type='text/markdown; charset=UTF-8; variant=GFM',