Index: image.module
===================================================================
--- image.module	(revision 20092)
+++ image.module	(working copy)
@@ -845,7 +845,12 @@
  */
 function _image_check_settings() {
   // File paths
-  $image_path = file_create_path(variable_get('image_default_path', 'images'));
+  $image_path = variable_get('image_default_path', 'images');
+  if (substr($image_path, -1) == '/') {
+    $image_path = substr($image_path, 0, strlen($image_path) -1);
+    variable_set('image_default_path', $image_path);
+  }
+  $image_path = file_create_path($image_path);
   $temp_path = rtrim($image_path, '/') .'/temp';
 
   if (!file_check_directory($image_path, FILE_CREATE_DIRECTORY, 'image_default_path')) {