diff --git a/graphene/contrib/django/filter/__init__.py b/graphene/contrib/django/filter/__init__.py
index 1495b99f..95b28aff 100644
--- a/graphene/contrib/django/filter/__init__.py
+++ b/graphene/contrib/django/filter/__init__.py
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-from graphene.contrib.django import settings
+from graphene.contrib.django.utils import DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED
 
-if not settings.GRAPHENE_ENABLE_FILTERING:
+if not DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED:
     raise Exception(
-        "To make use of filtering you configure "
-        "GRAPHENE_ENABLE_FILTERING=True. This will also require "
-        "django-filter be installed"
+        "Use of django filtering requires the django-filter package "
+        "be installed. You can do so using `pip install django-filter`"
     )
 
 from .fields import DjangoFilterConnectionField
diff --git a/graphene/contrib/django/filter/filterset.py b/graphene/contrib/django/filter/filterset.py
index dbcfd128..4755eac2 100644
--- a/graphene/contrib/django/filter/filterset.py
+++ b/graphene/contrib/django/filter/filterset.py
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 import six
+from django.conf import settings
 from django.db import models
 from django.utils.text import capfirst
 from django_filters import Filter, MultipleChoiceFilter
 from django_filters.filterset import FilterSetMetaclass, FilterSet
 from graphql_relay.node.node import from_global_id
 
-from graphene.contrib.django import settings
 from graphene.contrib.django.forms import GlobalIDFormField, GlobalIDMultipleChoiceField
 
 
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ class GlobalIDMultipleChoiceFilter(MultipleChoiceFilter):
         return super(GlobalIDMultipleChoiceFilter, self).filter(qs, gids)
 
 
+ORDER_BY_FIELD = getattr(settings, 'GRAPHENE_ORDER_BY_FIELD', 'order_by')
+
+
 GRAPHENE_FILTER_SET_OVERRIDES = {
     models.AutoField: {
         'filter_class': GlobalIDFilter,
@@ -51,7 +54,7 @@ class GrapheneFilterSetMetaclass(FilterSetMetaclass):
 
 
 class GrapheneFilterSetMixin(object):
-    order_by_field = settings.GRAPHENE_ORDER_BY_FIELD
+    order_by_field = ORDER_BY_FIELD
 
     @classmethod
     def filter_for_reverse_field(cls, f, name):
diff --git a/graphene/contrib/django/options.py b/graphene/contrib/django/options.py
index 276b4cfb..55868dd7 100644
--- a/graphene/contrib/django/options.py
+++ b/graphene/contrib/django/options.py
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-from graphene.contrib.django import settings
+from .utils import DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED
 from ...core.classtypes.objecttype import ObjectTypeOptions
 from ...relay.types import Node
 from ...relay.utils import is_node
 
 VALID_ATTRS = ('model', 'only_fields', 'exclude_fields')
 
-if settings.GRAPHENE_ENABLE_FILTERING:
+if DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED:
     VALID_ATTRS += ('filter_fields', 'filter_order_by')
 
 
diff --git a/graphene/contrib/django/settings.py b/graphene/contrib/django/settings.py
deleted file mode 100644
index c98de70b..00000000
--- a/graphene/contrib/django/settings.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-from django.conf import settings
-
-GRAPHENE_ORDER_BY_FIELD = getattr(settings, 'GRAPHENE_ORDER_BY_FIELD', 'order_by')
-GRAPHENE_ENABLE_FILTERING = getattr(settings, 'GRAPHENE_ENABLE_FILTERING', False)
diff --git a/graphene/contrib/django/tests/__init__.py b/graphene/contrib/django/tests/__init__.py
index 57726259..e69de29b 100644
--- a/graphene/contrib/django/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/graphene/contrib/django/tests/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-from graphene.contrib.django import settings
-
-# Force filtering for tests
-settings.GRAPHENE_ENABLE_FILTERING = True
diff --git a/graphene/contrib/django/tests/filter/test_fields.py b/graphene/contrib/django/tests/filter/test_fields.py
index a7d9866c..33cc2421 100644
--- a/graphene/contrib/django/tests/filter/test_fields.py
+++ b/graphene/contrib/django/tests/filter/test_fields.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 from graphene import ObjectType, Schema
-from graphene.contrib.django import settings
+from graphene.contrib.django.utils import DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED
 from graphene.relay import NodeField
 
 
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ from graphene.contrib.django.forms import GlobalIDFormField, GlobalIDMultipleCho
 from graphene.contrib.django.tests.models import Article, Pet, Reporter
 
 pytestmark = []
-if settings.GRAPHENE_ENABLE_FILTERING:
+if DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED:
     import django_filters
     from graphene.contrib.django.filter import (GlobalIDFilter, DjangoFilterConnectionField,
                                                 GlobalIDMultipleChoiceFilter)
diff --git a/graphene/contrib/django/tests/filter/test_resolvers.py b/graphene/contrib/django/tests/filter/test_resolvers.py
index a16b0755..a336cddf 100644
--- a/graphene/contrib/django/tests/filter/test_resolvers.py
+++ b/graphene/contrib/django/tests/filter/test_resolvers.py
@@ -1,16 +1,17 @@
 import pytest
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 
-from graphene.contrib.django import settings
-from graphene.contrib.django.tests.models import Reporter, Article
-from graphene.contrib.django.tests.test_resolvers import ReporterNode, ArticleNode
+from graphene.contrib.django.utils import DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED
 
-if settings.GRAPHENE_ENABLE_FILTERING:
+if DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED:
     from graphene.contrib.django.filter.resolvers import FilterConnectionResolver
     from graphene.contrib.django.tests.filter.filters import ReporterFilter, ArticleFilter
 else:
     pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(True, reason='django_filters not installed')
 
+from graphene.contrib.django.tests.models import Reporter, Article
+from graphene.contrib.django.tests.test_resolvers import ReporterNode, ArticleNode
+
 
 def test_filter_get_filterset_class_explicit():
     reporter = Reporter(id=1, first_name='Cookie Monster')
diff --git a/graphene/contrib/django/types.py b/graphene/contrib/django/types.py
index 1e5a5a58..e25130df 100644
--- a/graphene/contrib/django/types.py
+++ b/graphene/contrib/django/types.py
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ import inspect
 import six
 from django.db import models
 
-from graphene.contrib.django import settings
 from ...core.classtypes.objecttype import ObjectType, ObjectTypeMeta
 from ...relay.types import Connection, Node, NodeMeta
+from .utils import DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED
 from .converter import convert_django_field
 from .options import DjangoOptions
 from .utils import get_reverse_fields, maybe_queryset
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ class DjangoConnection(Connection):
 
 django_node_meta_bases = (DjangoObjectTypeMeta, NodeMeta)
 # Only include filter functionality if available
-if settings.GRAPHENE_ENABLE_FILTERING:
+if DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED:
     django_node_meta_bases = (DjangoFilterObjectTypeMeta,) + django_node_meta_bases
 
 
diff --git a/graphene/contrib/django/utils.py b/graphene/contrib/django/utils.py
index 134e0631..38bf7546 100644
--- a/graphene/contrib/django/utils.py
+++ b/graphene/contrib/django/utils.py
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ from graphene.utils import LazyList
 
 from graphene import Argument, String
 
+try:
+    import django_filters  # noqa
+    DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED = True
+except ImportError:
+    DJANGO_FILTER_INSTALLED = False
+
 
 def get_type_for_model(schema, model):
     schema = schema