diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9a66d119f0..d90bd37006 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -306,14 +306,8 @@ verify: vendor verify-codegen verify-mockgen verify-manifests #HELP Run all veri
 
 #SECTION Release
 
-.PHONY: pull-opm
-pull-opm:
-	docker pull $(OPERATOR_REGISTRY_IMAGE)
-
 .PHONY: package
 package: $(YQ) $(HELM) #HELP Package OLM for release
-package: OLM_RELEASE_IMG_REF=$(shell docker inspect --format='{{index .RepoDigests 0}}' $(IMAGE_REPO):$(RELEASE_VERSION))
-package: OPM_IMAGE_REF=$(shell docker inspect --format='{{index .RepoDigests 0}}' $(OPERATOR_REGISTRY_IMAGE))
 package:
 ifndef TARGET
 	$(error TARGET is undefined)
@@ -321,12 +315,6 @@ endif
 ifndef RELEASE_VERSION
 	$(error RELEASE_VERSION is undefined)
 endif
-	@echo "Getting operator registry image"
-	docker pull $(OPERATOR_REGISTRY_IMAGE)
-	$(YQ) w -i deploy/$(TARGET)/values.yaml olm.image.ref $(OLM_RELEASE_IMG_REF)
-	$(YQ) w -i deploy/$(TARGET)/values.yaml catalog.image.ref $(OLM_RELEASE_IMG_REF)
-	$(YQ) w -i deploy/$(TARGET)/values.yaml package.image.ref $(OLM_RELEASE_IMG_REF)
-	$(YQ) w -i deploy/$(TARGET)/values.yaml -- catalog.opmImageArgs "--opmImage=$(OPM_IMAGE_REF)"
 	./scripts/package_release.sh $(RELEASE_VERSION) deploy/$(TARGET)/manifests/$(RELEASE_VERSION) deploy/$(TARGET)/values.yaml
 	ln -sfFn ./$(RELEASE_VERSION) deploy/$(TARGET)/manifests/latest
 ifeq ($(PACKAGE_QUICKSTART), true)
@@ -334,9 +322,8 @@ ifeq ($(PACKAGE_QUICKSTART), true)
 endif
 
 .PHONY: release
-release: pull-opm manifests # pull the opm image to get the digest
+release: manifests
 	@echo "Generating the $(RELEASE_VERSION) release"
-	docker pull $(IMAGE_REPO):$(RELEASE_VERSION)
 	$(MAKE) TARGET=upstream RELEASE_VERSION=$(RELEASE_VERSION) PACKAGE_QUICKSTART=true package
 
 .PHONY: FORCE
diff --git a/scripts/package_release.sh b/scripts/package_release.sh
index cd8b722c61..881ff79146 100755
--- a/scripts/package_release.sh
+++ b/scripts/package_release.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
 if [[ ${#@} -lt 3 ]]; then
     echo "Usage: $0 semver chart values"
     echo "* semver: semver-formatted version for this package"
@@ -14,6 +18,17 @@ values=$3
 
 source .bingo/variables.env
 
+OLM_RELEASE_IMG_REF=$(go run util/image-canonical-ref/main.go ${IMAGE_REPO}:${version})
+OPM_IMAGE_REF=$(go run util/image-canonical-ref/main.go ${OPERATOR_REGISTRY_IMAGE})
+
+echo "Using OPM image ${OPM_IMAGE_REF}"
+echo "Using OLM image ${OLM_RELEASE_IMG_REF}"
+
+$YQ w -i $values olm.image.ref ${OLM_RELEASE_IMG_REF}
+$YQ w -i $values catalog.image.ref ${OLM_RELEASE_IMG_REF}
+$YQ w -i $values package.image.ref ${OLM_RELEASE_IMG_REF}
+$YQ w -i $values -- catalog.opmImageArgs "--opmImage=${OPM_IMAGE_REF}"
+
 charttmpdir=$(mktemp -d 2>/dev/null || mktemp -d -t charttmpdir)
 
 charttmpdir=${charttmpdir}/chart
diff --git a/util/image-canonical-ref/main.go b/util/image-canonical-ref/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9639d50a11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/image-canonical-ref/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/containers/image/v5/docker"
+	"github.com/containers/image/v5/docker/reference"
+	"github.com/containers/image/v5/manifest"
+	"github.com/containers/image/v5/types"
+)
+
+// This is a simple tool to resolve canonical reference of the image.
+// E.g. this resolves quay.io/operator-framework/olm:v0.28.0 to
+// quay.io/operator-framework/olm@sha256:40d0363f4aa684319cd721c2fcf3321785380fdc74de8ef821317cd25a10782a
+func main() {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	if len(os.Args) != 2 {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "usage: %s <image reference>\n", os.Args[0])
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	ref := os.Args[1]
+
+	if err := run(ctx, ref); err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "error running the tool: %s\n", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+}
+
+func run(ctx context.Context, ref string) error {
+	imgRef, err := reference.ParseNamed(ref)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("error parsing image reference %q: %w", ref, err)
+	}
+
+	sysCtx := &types.SystemContext{}
+	canonicalRef, err := resolveCanonicalRef(ctx, imgRef, sysCtx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("error resolving canonical reference: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	fmt.Println(canonicalRef.String())
+	return nil
+}
+
+func resolveCanonicalRef(ctx context.Context, imgRef reference.Named, sysCtx *types.SystemContext) (reference.Canonical, error) {
+	if canonicalRef, ok := imgRef.(reference.Canonical); ok {
+		return canonicalRef, nil
+	}
+
+	srcRef, err := docker.NewReference(imgRef)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error creating reference: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	imgSrc, err := srcRef.NewImageSource(ctx, sysCtx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error creating image source: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer imgSrc.Close()
+
+	imgManifestData, _, err := imgSrc.GetManifest(ctx, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting manifest: %w", err)
+	}
+	imgDigest, err := manifest.Digest(imgManifestData)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting digest of manifest: %w", err)
+	}
+	canonicalRef, err := reference.WithDigest(reference.TrimNamed(imgRef), imgDigest)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error creating canonical reference: %w", err)
+	}
+	return canonicalRef, nil
+}