diff --git a/pygit2.c b/pygit2.c
index e4761f7..3b3c745 100644
--- a/pygit2.c
+++ b/pygit2.c
@@ -230,16 +230,22 @@ wrap_reference(git_reference * c_reference)
 
 static int
 py_str_to_git_oid(PyObject *py_str, git_oid *oid) {
-    char *hex;
+    const char *hex_or_bin;
     int err;
 
-    hex = PyString_AsString(py_str);
-    if (hex == NULL) {
+    hex_or_bin = PyString_AsString(py_str);
+    if (hex_or_bin == NULL) {
         Error_set_py_obj(GIT_ENOTOID, py_str);
         return 0;
     }
 
-    err = git_oid_fromstr(oid, hex);
+    if (PyString_Size(py_str) == 20) {
+        git_oid_fromraw(oid, (const unsigned char*)hex_or_bin);
+        err = 0;
+    } else {
+        err = git_oid_fromstr(oid, hex_or_bin);
+    }
+
     if (err < 0) {
         Error_set_py_obj(err, py_str);
         return 0;
@@ -318,11 +324,14 @@ Repository_read(Repository *self, PyObject *py_hex) {
     if (err < 0)
         return Error_set_py_obj(err, py_hex);
 
-    return Py_BuildValue(
+    PyObject* tuple = Py_BuildValue(
         "(ns#)",
         git_odb_object_type(obj),
         git_odb_object_data(obj),
         git_odb_object_size(obj));
+
+    git_odb_object_close(obj);
+    return tuple;
 }
 
 static PyObject *
@@ -791,6 +800,8 @@ Object_read_raw(Object *self) {
         git_odb_object_data(obj),
         git_odb_object_size(obj));
 
+    git_odb_object_close(obj);
+
 cleanup:
     Py_XDECREF(py_sha);
     return result;
diff --git a/test/test_repository.py b/test/test_repository.py
index b8573bc..d584e46 100644
--- a/test/test_repository.py
+++ b/test/test_repository.py
@@ -44,10 +44,11 @@ class RepositoryTest(utils.BareRepoTestCase):
 
     def test_read(self):
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, self.repo.read, 123)
-        self.assertRaises(ValueError, self.repo.read, A_BIN_SHA)
         self.assertRaisesWithArg(KeyError, '1' * 40, self.repo.read, '1' * 40)
 
+        ab = self.repo.read(A_BIN_SHA)
         a = self.repo.read(A_HEX_SHA)
+        self.assertEqual(ab, a)
         self.assertEqual((pygit2.GIT_OBJ_BLOB, 'a contents\n'), a)
 
         a2 = self.repo.read('7f129fd57e31e935c6d60a0c794efe4e6927664b')
@@ -55,13 +56,13 @@ class RepositoryTest(utils.BareRepoTestCase):
 
     def test_contains(self):
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, lambda: 123 in self.repo)
-        self.assertRaises(ValueError, lambda: A_BIN_SHA in self.repo)
+        self.assertTrue(A_BIN_SHA in self.repo)
         self.assertTrue(A_HEX_SHA in self.repo)
         self.assertFalse('a' * 40 in self.repo)
 
     def test_lookup_blob(self):
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, lambda: self.repo[123])
-        self.assertRaises(ValueError, lambda: self.repo[A_BIN_SHA])
+        self.assertEqual(self.repo[A_BIN_SHA].sha, A_HEX_SHA)
         a = self.repo[A_HEX_SHA]
         self.assertEqual('a contents\n', a.read_raw())
         self.assertEqual(A_HEX_SHA, a.sha)