diff --git a/imageio/plugins/pillowmulti.py b/imageio/plugins/pillowmulti.py
index e680b0f8a..61e2b6f43 100644
--- a/imageio/plugins/pillowmulti.py
+++ b/imageio/plugins/pillowmulti.py
@@ -55,9 +55,7 @@ class GIFFormat(PillowFormat):
     _modes = "iI"
     _description = "Static and animated gif (Pillow)"
 
-    class Reader(PillowFormat.Reader):
-        def _open(self, playback=None):  # compat with FI format
-            return PillowFormat.Reader._open(self)
+    # GIF reader needs no modifications compared to base pillow reader
 
     class Writer(PillowFormat.Writer):
         def _open(
diff --git a/tests/test_pillow.py b/tests/test_pillow.py
index 9e7942921..000c6d80e 100644
--- a/tests/test_pillow.py
+++ b/tests/test_pillow.py
@@ -258,6 +258,13 @@ def test_gif():
     raises(TypeError, imageio.imread, fname, notavalidkwarg=True)
     raises(TypeError, imageio.imsave, fnamebase + "1.gif", im, notavalidk=True)
 
+def test_gif_pilmode():
+    # Bug found in issue #600
+    image = np.asarray(imageio.mimread("imageio:newtonscradle.gif", pilmode="RGB"))
+    assert np.array_equal(image.shape, (36, 150, 200, 3))
+
+    image = np.asarray(imageio.mimread("imageio:newtonscradle.gif", pilmode="RGBA"))
+    assert np.array_equal(image.shape, (36, 150, 200, 4))
 
 def test_animated_gif():