diff --git a/pyqtgraph/metaarray/MetaArray.py b/pyqtgraph/metaarray/MetaArray.py
index 1410e40c..374c9acf 100644
--- a/pyqtgraph/metaarray/MetaArray.py
+++ b/pyqtgraph/metaarray/MetaArray.py
@@ -357,9 +357,12 @@ class MetaArray(object):
         else:
             return np.array(self._data)
             
-    def __array__(self):
+    def __array__(self, dtype=None):
         ## supports np.array(metaarray_instance) 
-        return self.asarray()
+        if dtype is None:
+            return self.asarray()
+        else:
+            return self.asarray().astype(dtype)
             
     def view(self, typ):
         ## deprecated; kept for backward compatibility