diff --git a/skimage/__init__.py b/skimage/__init__.py
index daac238c..23e5d3a7 100644
--- a/skimage/__init__.py
+++ b/skimage/__init__.py
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@ util
 
 Utility Functions
 -----------------
-get_log
-    Returns the ``skimage`` log.  Use this to print debug output.
 img_as_float
     Convert an image to floating point format, with values in [0, 1].
 img_as_uint
@@ -54,6 +52,7 @@ img_as_ubyte
 import os.path as _osp
 import imp as _imp
 import functools as _functools
+from skimage._shared.utils import deprecated as _deprecated
 
 pkg_dir = _osp.abspath(_osp.dirname(__file__))
 data_dir = _osp.join(pkg_dir, 'data')
@@ -62,6 +61,7 @@ try:
     from .version import version as __version__
 except ImportError:
     __version__ = "unbuilt-dev"
+del version
 
 
 try:
@@ -88,6 +88,57 @@ test_verbose = _functools.partial(test, verbose=True)
 test_verbose.__doc__ = test.__doc__
 
 
+from exceptions import Warning as _Warning
+
+class _Log(_Warning):
+    pass
+
+class _FakeLog(object):
+    def __init__(self, name):
+        """
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        name : str
+            Name of the log.
+        repeat : bool
+            Whether to print repeating messages more than once (False by
+            default).
+        """
+        self._name = name
+
+        import warnings
+        warnings.simplefilter("always", _Log)
+
+        self._warnings = warnings
+
+    def _warn(self, msg, wtype):
+        self._warnings.warn('%s: %s' % (wtype, msg), _Log)
+
+    def debug(self, msg):
+        self._warn(msg, 'DEBUG')
+
+    def info(self, msg):
+        self._warn(msg, 'INFO')
+
+    def warning(self, msg):
+        self._warn(msg, 'WARNING')
+
+    warn = warning
+
+    def error(self, msg):
+        self._warn(msg, 'ERROR')
+
+    def critical(self, msg):
+        self._warn(msg, 'CRITICAL')
+
+    def addHandler(*args):
+        pass
+
+    def setLevel(*args):
+        pass
+
+
+@_deprecated()
 def get_log(name=None):
     """Return a console logger.
 
@@ -105,39 +156,12 @@ def get_log(name=None):
            http://docs.python.org/library/logging.html
 
     """
-    import logging
-
     if name is None:
         name = 'skimage'
     else:
         name = 'skimage.' + name
 
-    log = logging.getLogger(name)
-    return log
+    return _FakeLog(name)
 
 
-def _setup_log():
-    """Configure root logger.
-
-    """
-    import logging
-    import sys
-
-    formatter = logging.Formatter(
-        '%(name)s: %(levelname)s: %(message)s'
-        )
-
-    try:
-        handler = logging.StreamHandler(stream=sys.stdout)
-    except TypeError:
-        handler = logging.StreamHandler(strm=sys.stdout)
-    handler.setFormatter(formatter)
-
-    log = get_log()
-    log.addHandler(handler)
-    log.setLevel(logging.WARNING)
-    log.propagate = False
-
-_setup_log()
-
 from .util.dtype import *
diff --git a/skimage/_shared/utils.py b/skimage/_shared/utils.py
index ea631716..18cd25c9 100644
--- a/skimage/_shared/utils.py
+++ b/skimage/_shared/utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import warnings
 import functools
 import sys
+from exceptions import Warning
 
 from . import six
 
@@ -8,6 +9,14 @@ from . import six
 __all__ = ['deprecated', 'get_bound_method_class']
 
 
+class skimage_deprecation(Warning):
+    """Create our own deprecation class, since Python >= 2.7
+    silences deprecations by default.
+
+    """
+    pass
+
+
 class deprecated(object):
     """Decorator to mark deprecated functions with warning.
 
@@ -39,12 +48,14 @@ class deprecated(object):
         def wrapped(*args, **kwargs):
             if self.behavior == 'warn':
                 func_code = six.get_function_code(func)
+                warnings.simplefilter('always', skimage_deprecation)
+                warnings.warn(msg, category=skimage_deprecation)
                 warnings.warn_explicit(msg,
-                    category=DeprecationWarning,
+                    category=skimage_deprecation,
                     filename=func_code.co_filename,
                     lineno=func_code.co_firstlineno + 1)
             elif self.behavior == 'raise':
-                raise DeprecationWarning(msg)
+                raise skimage_deprecation(msg)
             return func(*args, **kwargs)
 
         # modify doc string to display deprecation warning
diff --git a/skimage/util/dtype.py b/skimage/util/dtype.py
index 8daea421..3f85cc2b 100644
--- a/skimage/util/dtype.py
+++ b/skimage/util/dtype.py
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 from __future__ import division
 import numpy as np
+from warnings import warn
 
 __all__ = ['img_as_float', 'img_as_int', 'img_as_uint', 'img_as_ubyte',
            'img_as_bool', 'dtype_limits']
 
-from .. import get_log
-log = get_log('dtype_converter')
-
 dtype_range = {np.bool_: (False, True),
                np.bool8: (False, True),
                np.uint8: (0, 255),
@@ -101,12 +99,12 @@ def convert(image, dtype, force_copy=False, uniform=False):
         raise ValueError("can not convert %s to %s." % (dtypeobj_in, dtypeobj))
 
     def sign_loss():
-        log.warn("Possible sign loss when converting negative image of type "
-                 "%s to positive image of type %s." % (dtypeobj_in, dtypeobj))
+        warn("Possible sign loss when converting negative image of type "
+             "%s to positive image of type %s." % (dtypeobj_in, dtypeobj))
 
     def prec_loss():
-        log.warn("Possible precision loss when converting from "
-                 "%s to %s" % (dtypeobj_in, dtypeobj))
+        warn("Possible precision loss when converting from "
+             "%s to %s" % (dtypeobj_in, dtypeobj))
 
     def _dtype(itemsize, *dtypes):
         # Return first of `dtypes` with itemsize greater than `itemsize`