diff --git a/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/AWSEC2PropertiesBuilder.java b/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/AWSEC2PropertiesBuilder.java
index 4126123015..b2f0e9e4d9 100644
--- a/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/AWSEC2PropertiesBuilder.java
+++ b/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/AWSEC2PropertiesBuilder.java
@@ -83,10 +83,12 @@ public class AWSEC2PropertiesBuilder extends org.jclouds.ec2.EC2PropertiesBuilde
       if (props.containsKey(PROPERTY_EC2_AMI_OWNERS)) {
          StringBuilder query = new StringBuilder();
          String owners = properties.remove(PROPERTY_EC2_AMI_OWNERS).toString();
-         if (!"*".equals(owners) && !"".equals(owners))
-            query.append("owner-id=").append(owners).append(';');
-         if (!"".equals(owners))
+         if ("*".equals(owners))
             query.append("state=available;image-type=machine");
+         else if (!"".equals(owners))
+            query.append("owner-id=").append(owners).append(";state=available;image-type=machine");
+         else if ("".equals(owners))
+            query = new StringBuilder();
          props.setProperty(PROPERTY_EC2_AMI_QUERY, query.toString());
          Logger.getAnonymousLogger().warning(
                   String.format("Property %s is deprecated, please use new syntax: %s=%s", PROPERTY_EC2_AMI_OWNERS,
@@ -97,7 +99,7 @@ public class AWSEC2PropertiesBuilder extends org.jclouds.ec2.EC2PropertiesBuilde
    protected void warnAndReplaceIfUsingOldCCImageKey(Properties props) {
       if (props.containsKey(PROPERTY_EC2_CC_AMIs)) {
          String amis = properties.remove(PROPERTY_EC2_CC_AMIs).toString();
-         String value = "image-id=" + amis.replace("us-east-1/", "");
+         String value = ("".equals(amis)) ? "" : "image-id=" + amis.replace("us-east-1/", "");
          props.setProperty(PROPERTY_EC2_CC_AMI_QUERY, value);
          Logger.getAnonymousLogger().warning(
                   String.format("Property %s is deprecated, please use new syntax: %s=%s", PROPERTY_EC2_CC_AMIs,
diff --git a/providers/aws-ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/compute/AWSEC2TemplateBuilderLiveTest.java b/providers/aws-ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/compute/AWSEC2TemplateBuilderLiveTest.java
index 459f94a515..406ea0d600 100644
--- a/providers/aws-ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/compute/AWSEC2TemplateBuilderLiveTest.java
+++ b/providers/aws-ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/compute/AWSEC2TemplateBuilderLiveTest.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import org.jclouds.compute.domain.Template;
 import org.jclouds.ec2.compute.predicates.EC2ImagePredicates;
 import org.jclouds.ec2.domain.InstanceType;
 import org.jclouds.ec2.domain.RootDeviceType;
+import org.jclouds.ec2.reference.EC2Constants;
 import org.jclouds.logging.log4j.config.Log4JLoggingModule;
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
@@ -243,6 +244,42 @@ public class AWSEC2TemplateBuilderLiveTest extends BaseTemplateBuilderLiveTest {
       }
    }
 
+   @Test
+   public void testTemplateBuilderWithNoOwnersParsesImageOnDemandDeprecated() throws IOException {
+      ComputeServiceContext context = null;
+      try {
+         Properties overrides = setupProperties();
+         // set owners to nothing
+         overrides.setProperty(AWSEC2Constants.PROPERTY_EC2_CC_AMIs, "");
+         overrides.setProperty(EC2Constants.PROPERTY_EC2_AMI_OWNERS, "");
+
+         context = new ComputeServiceContextFactory().createContext(provider, ImmutableSet
+                  .<Module> of(new Log4JLoggingModule()), overrides);
+
+         assertEquals(context.getComputeService().listImages().size(), 0);
+
+         Template template = context.getComputeService().templateBuilder().imageId("us-east-1/ami-ccb35ea5").build();
+         System.out.println(template.getHardware());
+         assert (template.getImage().getProviderId().startsWith("ami-")) : template;
+         assertEquals(template.getImage().getOperatingSystem().getVersion(), "5.4");
+         assertEquals(template.getImage().getOperatingSystem().is64Bit(), true);
+         assertEquals(template.getImage().getOperatingSystem().getFamily(), OsFamily.CENTOS);
+         assertEquals(template.getImage().getVersion(), "4.4.10");
+         assertEquals(template.getImage().getUserMetadata().get("rootDeviceType"), "instance-store");
+         assertEquals(template.getLocation().getId(), "us-east-1");
+         assertEquals(getCores(template.getHardware()), 2.0d);
+         assertEquals(template.getHardware().getId(), "m1.large"); // because it
+         // is 64bit
+
+         // ensure we cache the new image for next time
+         assertEquals(context.getComputeService().listImages().size(), 1);
+
+      } finally {
+         if (context != null)
+            context.close();
+      }
+   }
+
    @Test
    public void testTemplateBuilderWithLessRegions() throws IOException {
       ComputeServiceContext context = null;