diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/colorbar.py b/lib/matplotlib/colorbar.py
index 001cc8e6e3b9..fdeb98902076 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/colorbar.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/colorbar.py
@@ -1212,7 +1212,10 @@ def _reset_locator_formatter_scale(self):
         self._minorlocator = None
         self._formatter = None
         self._minorformatter = None
-        if (self.boundaries is not None or
+        if isinstance(self.norm, colors.LogNorm):
+            # if contours have lognorm, give them a log scale...
+            self._set_scale('log')
+        elif (self.boundaries is not None or
                 isinstance(self.norm, colors.BoundaryNorm)):
             if self.spacing == 'uniform':
                 funcs = (self._forward_boundaries, self._inverse_boundaries)