diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index 8bc4b729a05..3bbb47daa4f 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -337,6 +337,10 @@ changes (where available).
 
 - Fixed a crash on using tag floating window after editing metadata.
 
+- Fixed rotate and perspective sometimes not applying its automatic
+  crop when the rotation was changed (e.g. with a shortcut) before the
+  module had been enabled, leaving empty corners in the image.
+
 ## Lua
 
 ### API Version
diff --git a/src/iop/ashift.c b/src/iop/ashift.c
index b366762055a..bb7526398c6 100644
--- a/src/iop/ashift.c
+++ b/src/iop/ashift.c
@@ -5561,6 +5561,17 @@ static void _event_process_after_preview_callback(gpointer instance, dt_iop_modu
   switch(jobcode)
   {
     case ASHIFT_JOBCODE_DO_CROP:
+      // the signal can come from a preview run that started before the
+      // module was enabled and so never filled g->buf; do_crop() would
+      // return without cropping, so keep the request for the next run
+      dt_iop_gui_enter_critical_section(self);
+      const gboolean buf_empty = g->buf_width == 0 || g->buf_height == 0;
+      dt_iop_gui_leave_critical_section(self);
+      if(buf_empty)
+      {
+        g->jobcode = ASHIFT_JOBCODE_DO_CROP;
+        break;
+      }
       do_crop(self, p);
       _commit_crop_box(p, g);
       // save all that