diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 0457d00..9013712 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ Known issues:
 ## not yet released
 
 
+## 1.8.3
+
+- [issue #450] Fix `log.info(null)` crash that resulted from #426 in v1.8.2.
+
+
 ## 1.8.2
 
 - [issue #449] Bump dtrace-provider dep to 0.7.0 to help avoid deprecation
@@ -26,7 +31,7 @@ Known issues:
 ## 1.8.0
 
 Note: *Bad release.* An addition in this release broke 'rotating-file' usage.
-Use 1.8.1 instead.
+Use 1.8.1 or later.
 
 - [issue #370] Fix `bunyan -p ...` (i.e. DTrace integration) on node
   4.x and 5.x.
diff --git a/bin/bunyan b/bin/bunyan
index 6f2c101..0f3f412 100755
--- a/bin/bunyan
+++ b/bin/bunyan
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
  * vim: expandtab:ts=4:sw=4
  */
 
-var VERSION = '1.8.2';
+var VERSION = '1.8.3';
 
 var p = console.log;
 var util = require('util');
diff --git a/lib/bunyan.js b/lib/bunyan.js
index 47a15d7..5442826 100644
--- a/lib/bunyan.js
+++ b/lib/bunyan.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
  * vim: expandtab:ts=4:sw=4
  */
 
-var VERSION = '1.8.2';
+var VERSION = '1.8.3';
 
 /*
  * Bunyan log format version. This becomes the 'v' field on all log records.
@@ -980,7 +980,7 @@ function mkLogEmitter(minLevel) {
                 msgArgs[0] = util.inspect(msgArgs[0]);
             } else {  // `log.<level>(fields, msg, ...)`
                 fields = args[0];
-                if (args.length === 1 && fields.err &&
+                if (fields && args.length === 1 && fields.err &&
                     fields.err instanceof Error)
                 {
                     msgArgs = [fields.err.message];
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5b71d0b..53d3763 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "bunyan",
-  "version": "1.8.2",
+  "version": "1.8.3",
   "description": "a JSON logging library for node.js services",
   "author": "Trent Mick <trentm@gmail.com> (http://trentm.com)",
   "main": "./lib/bunyan.js",
diff --git a/test/log.test.js b/test/log.test.js
index 38a8996..6441463 100644
--- a/test/log.test.js
+++ b/test/log.test.js
@@ -239,13 +239,33 @@ test('log.info(<fields>, <array>)', function (t) {
     t.end();
 });
 
-test('log.info(<err>)', function (t) {
-    var e = new Error('boom');
+
+/*
+ * By accident (starting with trentm/node-bunyan#85 in bunyan@0.23.0),
+ *      log.info(null, ...)
+ * was interpreted as `null` being the object of fields. It is gracefully
+ * handled, which is good. However, had I to do it again, I would have made
+ * that interpret `null` as the *message*, and no fields having been passed.
+ * I think it is baked now. It would take a major bunyan rev to change it,
+ * but I don't think it is worth it: passing `null` as the first arg isn't
+ * really an intended way to call these Bunyan methods for either case.
+ */
+
+test('log.info(null)', function (t) {
     names.forEach(function (lvl) {
-        log3[lvl].call(log3, e);
+        log3[lvl].call(log3, null);
         var rec = catcher.records[catcher.records.length - 1];
-        t.equal(rec.err.message, 'boom',
-            format('log.%s err.message: got %j', lvl, rec.err.message));
+        t.equal(rec.msg, '', format('log.%s msg: got %j', lvl, rec.msg));
+    });
+    t.end();
+});
+
+test('log.info(null, <msg>)', function (t) {
+    names.forEach(function (lvl) {
+        log3[lvl].call(log3, null, 'my message');
+        var rec = catcher.records[catcher.records.length - 1];
+        t.equal(rec.msg, 'my message',
+            format('log.%s msg: got %j', lvl, rec.msg));
     });
     t.end();
 });