@@ -212,6 +212,15 @@ func fuzzInternalObject(t *testing.T, forVersion unversioned.GroupVersion, item

 			j.IssuedBy = nil

 			j.IssuedTo = nil

 		},

+		func(j *image.ImageStream, c fuzz.Continue) {

+			c.FuzzNoCustom(j)

+			for k, v := range j.Spec.Tags {

+				if len(v.ReferencePolicy.Type) == 0 {

+					v.ReferencePolicy.Type = image.SourceTagReferencePolicy

+					j.Spec.Tags[k] = v

+				}

+			}

+		},

 		func(j *image.ImageStreamMapping, c fuzz.Continue) {

 			c.FuzzNoCustom(j)

 			j.DockerImageRepository = ""

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (

 	"github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/client"

 	"github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/dockerregistry"

 	"github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/image/api"

+	imageapiv1 "github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/image/api/v1"

 	"github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/image/importer"

 	"github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/image/registry/imagestream"

 	quotautil "github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/quota/util"

@@ -237,6 +238,20 @@ func (r *REST) Create(ctx kapi.Context, obj runtime.Object) (runtime.Object, err

 	clearManifests(isi)

+	// ensure defaulting is applied by round trip converting

+	// TODO: convert to using versioned types.

+	external, err := kapi.Scheme.ConvertToVersion(stream, imageapiv1.SchemeGroupVersion)

+	if err != nil {

+		return nil, err

+	}

+	internal, err := kapi.Scheme.ConvertToVersion(external, api.SchemeGroupVersion)

+	if err != nil {

+		return nil, err

+	}

+	stream = internal.(*api.ImageStream)

+

+	// if and only if we have changes between the original and the imported stream, trigger

+	// an import

 	hasChanges := !kapi.Semantic.DeepEqual(original, stream)

 	if create {

 		stream.Annotations[api.DockerImageRepositoryCheckAnnotation] = now.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339)

@@ -419,6 +419,9 @@ func TestDeleteImageStreamTag(t *testing.T) {

 						Name: "test:foo",

 					},

 					Generation: &three,

+					ReferencePolicy: api.TagReferencePolicy{

+						Type: api.SourceTagReferencePolicy,

+					},

 				},

 			}

 			expectedStreamStatus := map[string]api.TagEventList{

@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func TestImageStreamImport(t *testing.T) {

 		},

 	})

 	if err != nil || isi == nil || isi.Status.Import == nil {

-		t.Fatalf("unexpected responses: %v %#v %#v", err, isi, isi.Status.Import)

+		t.Fatalf("unexpected responses: %v %#v", err, isi)

 	}

 	if isi.Status.Images[0].Image == nil || isi.Status.Images[0].Image.DockerImageMetadata.Size == 0 || len(isi.Status.Images[0].Image.DockerImageLayers) == 0 {