diff --git a/skimage/restoration/deconvolution.py b/skimage/restoration/deconvolution.py
index 632d678846f..3cfeb269d14 100644
--- a/skimage/restoration/deconvolution.py
+++ b/skimage/restoration/deconvolution.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 import numpy.random as npr
-from scipy.signal import convolve2d
+from scipy.signal import fftconvolve, convolve
 
 from . import uft
 
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ def richardson_lucy(image, psf, iterations=50, clip=True):
     Parameters
     ----------
     image : ndarray
-       Input degraded image.
+       Input degraded image (can be N dimensional).
     psf : ndarray
        The point spread function.
     iterations : int
@@ -365,13 +365,32 @@ def richardson_lucy(image, psf, iterations=50, clip=True):
     ----------
     .. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardson%E2%80%93Lucy_deconvolution
     """
+    # compute the times for direct convolution and the fft method. The fft is of
+    # complexity O(N log(N)) for each dimension and the direct method does
+    # straight arithmetic (and is O(n*k) to add n elements k times)
+    def direct_time(img_shape, kernel_shape):
+        return np.prod(img_shape + kernel_shape)
+    def fft_time(img_shape, kernel_shape):
+        return np.sum([n*np.log(n) for n in img_shape+kernel_shape])
+
+    # see whether the fourier transform convolution method or the direct
+    # convolution method is faster (discussed in scikit-image PR #1792)
+    time_ratio = 40.032 * fft_time(image.shape, psf.shape)
+    time_ratio /= direct_time(image.shape, psf.shape)
+
+    if time_ratio <= 1 or len(image.shape) > 2:
+        convolve_method = fftconvolve
+    else:
+        convolve_method = convolve
+
     image = image.astype(np.float)
     psf = psf.astype(np.float)
     im_deconv = 0.5 * np.ones(image.shape)
     psf_mirror = psf[::-1, ::-1]
+
     for _ in range(iterations):
-        relative_blur = image / convolve2d(im_deconv, psf, 'same')
-        im_deconv *= convolve2d(relative_blur, psf_mirror, 'same')
+        relative_blur = image / convolve_method(im_deconv, psf, 'same')
+        im_deconv *= convolve_method(relative_blur, psf_mirror, 'same')
 
     if clip:
         im_deconv[im_deconv > 1] = 1