diff --git a/image_transport/src/camera_subscriber.cpp b/image_transport/src/camera_subscriber.cpp
index 94cd5929..78fdf071 100644
--- a/image_transport/src/camera_subscriber.cpp
+++ b/image_transport/src/camera_subscriber.cpp
@@ -120,8 +120,15 @@ CameraSubscriber::CameraSubscriber(
 {
   // Must explicitly remap the image topic since we then do some string manipulation on it
   // to figure out the sibling camera_info topic.
+  //FIXME: when is resolved: https://github.com/ros2/rclcpp/issues/1656
+
+  //FIXME: once https://github.com/ros2/rclcpp/issues/1656 is resolved, see #187
+  std::string effective_namespace = node->get_effective_namespace();
+  if(effective_namespace.length() > 1 && effective_namespace.back() == '/')
+    effective_namespace.pop_back();
+
   std::string image_topic = rclcpp::expand_topic_or_service_name(base_topic,
-      node->get_name(), node->get_effective_namespace());
+      node->get_name(), effective_namespace);
   std::string info_topic = getCameraInfoTopic(image_topic);
 
   impl_->image_sub_.subscribe(node, image_topic, transport, custom_qos);
diff --git a/image_transport/src/publisher.cpp b/image_transport/src/publisher.cpp
index 38a59175..7d61cb98 100644
--- a/image_transport/src/publisher.cpp
+++ b/image_transport/src/publisher.cpp
@@ -105,8 +105,14 @@ Publisher::Publisher(
 {
   // Resolve the name explicitly because otherwise the compressed topics don't remap
   // properly (#3652).
+
+  //FIXME: once https://github.com/ros2/rclcpp/issues/1656 is resolved, see #187
+  std::string effective_namespace = node->get_effective_namespace();
+  if(effective_namespace.length() > 1 && effective_namespace.back() == '/')
+    effective_namespace.pop_back();
+
   std::string image_topic = rclcpp::expand_topic_or_service_name(base_topic,
-      node->get_name(), node->get_effective_namespace());
+      node->get_name(), effective_namespace);
   impl_->base_topic_ = image_topic;
   impl_->loader_ = loader;