diff --git a/doc/examples/plot_lena_tv_denoise.py b/doc/examples/plot_lena_tv_denoise.py
index 55f167e1..a712acee 100644
--- a/doc/examples/plot_lena_tv_denoise.py
+++ b/doc/examples/plot_lena_tv_denoise.py
@@ -20,9 +20,10 @@ import numpy as np
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 
 from scikits.image import data
+from scikits.image import color
 from scikits.image.filter import tv_denoise
 
-l = data.lena()
+l = color.rgb2gray(data.lena())
 l = l[230:290, 220:320]
 
 noisy = l + 0.4*l.std()*np.random.random(l.shape)
diff --git a/scikits/image/data/__init__.py b/scikits/image/data/__init__.py
index c46a2e37..095806b6 100644
--- a/scikits/image/data/__init__.py
+++ b/scikits/image/data/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,24 @@
-import scipy.misc as _m
+"""Convinience functions to get sample data"""
 
-lena = _m.lena
+import os
 
+from ..io import imread
+from ...image import data_dir
+
+def camera():
+    """Example gray "camera" image, often used for segmentation
+    and denoising examples."""
+
+    return imread(os.path.join(data_dir, "camera.png"))
+
+def lena():
+    """Example "Lena" image. """
+    return imread(os.path.join(data_dir, "lena.png"))
+
+def checkerboard():
+    """Checkerboard image"""
+    return imread(os.path.join(data_dir, "chessboard_RGB.png"))
+
+def checkerboard_gray():
+    """Checkerboard image, only gray channel"""
+    return imread(os.path.join(data_dir, "chessboard_GRAY.png"))
diff --git a/scikits/image/data/camera.png b/scikits/image/data/camera.png
index a196b835..49be869c 100644
Binary files a/scikits/image/data/camera.png and b/scikits/image/data/camera.png differ
diff --git a/scikits/image/data/lena.png b/scikits/image/data/lena.png
index 6b5473fe..408111c9 100644
Binary files a/scikits/image/data/lena.png and b/scikits/image/data/lena.png differ
diff --git a/scikits/image/data/tests/test_data.py b/scikits/image/data/tests/test_data.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..77b8ddaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scikits/image/data/tests/test_data.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import unittest
+
+import scikits.image.data as data
+
+class TestData(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_lena(self):
+        """ Test that "Lena" image can be loaded. """
+        data.lena()
+
+    def test_camera(self):
+        """ Test that "camera" image can be loaded. """
+        data.camera()
+
+    def test_checkerboard(self):
+        """ Test that checkerboard image can be loaded. """
+        data.checkerboard()
+
+    def test_checkerboard_gray(self):
+        """ Test that checkerboard grayscale image can be loaded. """
+        data.checkerboard_gray()
+
+