diff --git a/src/aliby/tile/tiler.py b/src/aliby/tile/tiler.py
index b35ca5c10e6611d9eb928c2fc44f2b4b7391e639..bee4266d75b04f7463d91d1da1ca0bde05f56b10 100644
--- a/src/aliby/tile/tiler.py
+++ b/src/aliby/tile/tiler.py
@@ -554,6 +554,13 @@ class Tiler(StepABC):
             channels = [0]
         elif isinstance(channels, str):
             channels = [channels]
+        # convert to indices
+        channels = [
+            self.channels.index(channel)
+            if isinstance(channel, str)
+            else channel
+            for channel in channels
+        ]
         # get the data as a list of length of the number of channels
         res = []
         for c in channels: