diff --git a/miscmaths.cc b/miscmaths.cc
index 9c2688ccdce6fe2b6f40c64a46bee211cb59a6d7..c93eef2f72565851f684b9dfa0e34715a4cd4ef2 100644
--- a/miscmaths.cc
+++ b/miscmaths.cc
@@ -929,38 +929,34 @@ namespace MISCMATHS {
 
 
   int rotmat2quat(ColumnVector& quaternion, const Matrix& rotmat)
-    {
-      Tracer tr("rotmat2quat");
-
-      float trace = rotmat.SubMatrix(1,3,1,3).Trace();
-
-      if (trace > 0) {
-	float w = std::sqrt((trace + 1.0)/4.0);
-	quaternion(1) = (rotmat(3,2) - rotmat(2,3))/(4.0*w);
-	quaternion(2) = (rotmat(1,3) - rotmat(3,1))/(4.0*w);
-	quaternion(3) = (rotmat(2,1) - rotmat(1,2))/(4.0*w);
-      } else if ((rotmat(1,1) > rotmat(2,2)) && (rotmat(1,1) > rotmat(3,3))) {
-	// first col case
-	float s = std::sqrt(1.0 + rotmat(1,1) - rotmat(2,2) - rotmat(3,3)) * 2.0;
-	quaternion(1) = 0.5 / s;
-	quaternion(2) = (-rotmat(1,2) - rotmat(1,2)) / s;
-	quaternion(3) = (-rotmat(1,3) - rotmat(3,1)) / s;
-      } else if ((rotmat(2,2) > rotmat(1,1)) && (rotmat(2,2) > rotmat(3,3))) {
-	// 2nd col case
-	float s = std::sqrt(1.0 + rotmat(2,2) - rotmat(1,1) - rotmat(3,3)) * 2.0;
-	quaternion(1) = (-rotmat(1,2) - rotmat(2,1)) / s;
-	quaternion(2) = 0.5 / s;
-	quaternion(3) = (-rotmat(2,3) - rotmat(3,2)) / s;
-      } else if ((rotmat(3,3) > rotmat(1,1)) && (rotmat(3,3) > rotmat(2,2))) {
-	// 3rd col case
-	float s = std::sqrt(1.0 + rotmat(3,3) - rotmat(1,1) - rotmat(2,2)) * 2.0;
-	quaternion(1) = (-rotmat(1,3) - rotmat(3,1)) / s;
-	quaternion(2) = (-rotmat(2,3) - rotmat(3,2)) / s;
-	quaternion(3) = 0.5 / s;
-      }
-      return 0;
+  {
+    Tracer tr("rotmat2quat");
+
+    // Variable d is a dummy, used to soak
+    // up outputs from nifti_mat44_to_quatern
+    // that we are not interested in.
+    mat44 rot;
+    double x, y, z, w, d;
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
+    for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
+      rot.m[i][j] = rotmat(i + 1, j + 1);
+    }}
+
+    legacy::nifti_mat44_to_quatern(rot, x, y, z, d, d, d, d, d, d, w);
+
+    if (quaternion.size() < 4) {
+      quaternion.ReSize(4);
     }
 
+    quaternion(1) = x;
+    quaternion(2) = y;
+    quaternion(3) = z;
+    quaternion(4) = w;
+
+    return 0;
+  }
+
 
   int decompose_aff(ColumnVector& params, const Matrix& affmat,
 		    const ColumnVector& centre,