diff --git a/jdk/src/java.desktop/share/classes/com/sun/imageio/plugins/tiff/TIFFFieldNode.java b/jdk/src/java.desktop/share/classes/com/sun/imageio/plugins/tiff/TIFFFieldNode.java
index 994d10d7810..35042328494 100644
--- a/jdk/src/java.desktop/share/classes/com/sun/imageio/plugins/tiff/TIFFFieldNode.java
+++ b/jdk/src/java.desktop/share/classes/com/sun/imageio/plugins/tiff/TIFFFieldNode.java
@@ -38,9 +38,14 @@ import javax.imageio.plugins.tiff.TIFFTagSet;
  * wherein the child node is procedural rather than buffered.
  */
 public class TIFFFieldNode extends IIOMetadataNode {
+    private static boolean isIFD(TIFFField f) {
+        int type = f.getType();
+        return f.hasDirectory() &&
+            (type == TIFFTag.TIFF_LONG || type == TIFFTag.TIFF_IFD_POINTER);
+    }
+
     private static String getNodeName(TIFFField f) {
-        return (f.hasDirectory() || f.getData() instanceof TIFFDirectory) ?
-            "TIFFIFD" : "TIFFField";
+        return isIFD(f) ? "TIFFIFD" : "TIFFField";
     }
 
     private boolean isIFD;
@@ -52,8 +57,7 @@ public class TIFFFieldNode extends IIOMetadataNode {
     public TIFFFieldNode(TIFFField field) {
         super(getNodeName(field));
 
-        isIFD = field.hasDirectory() ||
-            field.getData() instanceof TIFFDirectory;
+        isIFD = isIFD(field);
 
         this.field = field;
 
diff --git a/jdk/src/java.desktop/share/classes/javax/imageio/plugins/tiff/TIFFField.java b/jdk/src/java.desktop/share/classes/javax/imageio/plugins/tiff/TIFFField.java
index a6ba3859d2b..8a1fbf20b5d 100644
--- a/jdk/src/java.desktop/share/classes/javax/imageio/plugins/tiff/TIFFField.java
+++ b/jdk/src/java.desktop/share/classes/javax/imageio/plugins/tiff/TIFFField.java
@@ -843,10 +843,9 @@ public class TIFFField implements Cloneable {
      * Returns the {@code TIFFField} as a node named either
      * <tt>"TIFFField"</tt> or <tt>"TIFFIFD"</tt> as described in the
      * TIFF native image metadata specification. The node will be named
-     * <tt>"TIFFIFD"</tt> if and only if the field's data object is an
-     * instance of {@link TIFFDirectory} or equivalently
-     * {@link TIFFTag#isIFDPointer getTag.isIFDPointer()} returns
-     * {@code true}.
+     * <tt>"TIFFIFD"</tt> if and only if {@link #hasDirectory()} returns
+     * {@code true} and the field's type is either {@link TIFFTag#TIFF_LONG}
+     * or {@link TIFFTag#TIFF_IFD_POINTER}.
      *
      * @return a {@code Node} named <tt>"TIFFField"</tt> or
      * <tt>"TIFFIFD"</tt>.