diff --git a/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/ByteBoxRenderer.java b/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/ByteBoxRenderer.java
index 3c59fd010..845cf40f0 100644
--- a/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/ByteBoxRenderer.java
+++ b/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/ByteBoxRenderer.java
@@ -54,10 +54,6 @@ public ByteProcessor render(final long x,
             renderParameters.setMaxIntensity(maxIntensity);
         }
 
-        // render at full quality
-        renderParameters.setSkipInterpolation(false);
-        renderParameters.setBinaryMask(false);
-
         final ByteProcessor renderedProcessor;
         if (renderParameters.numberOfTileSpecs() > 0) {
             if (exportMaskOnly) {
diff --git a/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/RenderParameters.java b/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/RenderParameters.java
index 991b5adb7..cd9b1afeb 100644
--- a/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/RenderParameters.java
+++ b/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/RenderParameters.java
@@ -212,8 +212,8 @@ public RenderParameters(final String tileSpecUrl,
         this.convertToGray = false;
         this.quality = DEFAULT_QUALITY;
         this.numberOfThreads = DEFAULT_NUMBER_OF_THREADS;
-        this.skipInterpolation = true;
-        this.binaryMask = true;
+        this.skipInterpolation = false;
+        this.binaryMask = false;
         this.excludeMask = false;
         this.maskMinX = null;
         this.maskMinY = null;
diff --git a/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/ShortBoxRenderer.java b/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/ShortBoxRenderer.java
index 14e0b8b85..2f36dbdca 100644
--- a/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/ShortBoxRenderer.java
+++ b/render-app/src/main/java/org/janelia/alignment/ShortBoxRenderer.java
@@ -54,10 +54,6 @@ public ShortProcessor render(final long x,
             renderParameters.setMaxIntensity(maxIntensity);
         }
 
-        // render at full quality
-        renderParameters.setSkipInterpolation(false);
-        renderParameters.setBinaryMask(false);
-
         final ShortProcessor renderedProcessor;
         if (renderParameters.numberOfTileSpecs() > 0) {
             if (exportMaskOnly) {
diff --git a/render-ws/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/service/model/RenderQueryParameters.java b/render-ws/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/service/model/RenderQueryParameters.java
index e78a23a7a..55610198e 100644
--- a/render-ws/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/service/model/RenderQueryParameters.java
+++ b/render-ws/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/service/model/RenderQueryParameters.java
@@ -169,7 +169,8 @@ public void applyQueryAndDefaultParameters(final RenderParameters renderParamete
                                                final RenderDataService renderDataService) {
 
         // apply "simple" parameters
-        renderParameters.setBinaryMask(binaryMask);
+        renderParameters.setBinaryMask(binaryMask == null || binaryMask);
+        renderParameters.setSkipInterpolation(skipInterpolation == null || skipInterpolation);
         renderParameters.setChannels(channels);
         renderParameters.setConvertToGray(convertToGray);
         renderParameters.setExcludeMask(excludeMask);