diff --git a/docs/api-guide/settings.md b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
index 84dc8707c..b00ab4c1d 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/settings.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ A format string that should be used by default for rendering the output of `Date
 
 May be any of `None`, `'iso-8601'` or a python [strftime format][strftime] string.
 
-Default: `None'`
+Default: `None`
 
 #### DATETIME_INPUT_FORMATS
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/fields.py b/rest_framework/fields.py
index f934fc39e..c83ee5ecf 100644
--- a/rest_framework/fields.py
+++ b/rest_framework/fields.py
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ class DateField(WritableField):
     }
     empty = None
     input_formats = api_settings.DATE_INPUT_FORMATS
-    format = None
+    format = api_settings.DATE_FORMAT
 
     def __init__(self, input_formats=None, format=None, *args, **kwargs):
         self.input_formats = input_formats if input_formats is not None else self.input_formats
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@ class DateTimeField(WritableField):
     }
     empty = None
     input_formats = api_settings.DATETIME_INPUT_FORMATS
-    format = None
+    format = api_settings.DATETIME_FORMAT
 
     def __init__(self, input_formats=None, format=None, *args, **kwargs):
         self.input_formats = input_formats if input_formats is not None else self.input_formats
@@ -632,7 +632,7 @@ class TimeField(WritableField):
     }
     empty = None
     input_formats = api_settings.TIME_INPUT_FORMATS
-    format = None
+    format = api_settings.TIME_FORMAT
 
     def __init__(self, input_formats=None, format=None, *args, **kwargs):
         self.input_formats = input_formats if input_formats is not None else self.input_formats
diff --git a/rest_framework/settings.py b/rest_framework/settings.py
index 734d84782..beb511aca 100644
--- a/rest_framework/settings.py
+++ b/rest_framework/settings.py
@@ -86,17 +86,17 @@ DEFAULTS = {
     'DATE_INPUT_FORMATS': (
         ISO_8601,
     ),
-    'DATE_FORMAT': ISO_8601,
+    'DATE_FORMAT': None,
 
     'DATETIME_INPUT_FORMATS': (
         ISO_8601,
     ),
-    'DATETIME_FORMAT': ISO_8601,
+    'DATETIME_FORMAT': None,
 
     'TIME_INPUT_FORMATS': (
         ISO_8601,
     ),
-    'TIME_FORMAT': ISO_8601,
+    'TIME_FORMAT': None,
 
     # Pending deprecation
     'FILTER_BACKEND': None,