diff --git a/rest_framework/fields.py b/rest_framework/fields.py
index 9d707c9b5..8e15345da 100644
--- a/rest_framework/fields.py
+++ b/rest_framework/fields.py
@@ -475,8 +475,12 @@ class CharField(WritableField):
         if isinstance(value, six.string_types):
             return value
 
-        if value is None and not self.allow_none:
-            return ''
+        if value is None:
+            if not self.allow_none:
+                return ''
+            else:
+                # Return None explicitly because smart_text(None) == 'None'. See #1834 for details
+                return None
 
         return smart_text(value)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_fields.py b/tests/test_fields.py
index 094ac1eb0..0ddbe48b5 100644
--- a/tests/test_fields.py
+++ b/tests/test_fields.py
@@ -1004,6 +1004,18 @@ class BooleanField(TestCase):
         self.assertFalse(BooleanRequiredSerializer(data={}).is_valid())
 
 
+class ModelCharField(TestCase):
+    """
+        Tests for CharField
+    """
+    def test_none_serializing(self):
+        class CharFieldSerializer(serializers.Serializer):
+            char = serializers.CharField(allow_none=True, required=False)
+        serializer = CharFieldSerializer(data={'char': None})
+        self.assertTrue(serializer.is_valid())
+        self.assertIsNone(serializer.object['char'])
+
+
 class SerializerMethodFieldTest(TestCase):
     """
         Tests for the SerializerMethodField field_to_native() behavior