diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/CLIText.properties b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/CLIText.properties
index b117cf04c..01b3fba9c 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/CLIText.properties
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/CLIText.properties
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ notAValidRefName={0} is not a valid ref name
 notAnIndexFile={0} is not an index file
 notAnObject={0} is not an object
 notFound=!! NOT FOUND !!
+noteObjectTooLargeToPrint=Note object {0} too large to print
 onlyOneMetaVarExpectedIn=Only one {0} expected in {1}.
 pushTo=To {0}
 remoteMessage=remote: {0}
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/CLIText.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/CLIText.java
index dd0f6dbea..1c7e93634 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/CLIText.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/CLIText.java
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ public class CLIText extends TranslationBundle {
 	/***/ public String notAnIndexFile;
 	/***/ public String notAnObject;
 	/***/ public String notFound;
+	/***/ public String noteObjectTooLargeToPrint;
 	/***/ public String onlyOneMetaVarExpectedIn;
 	/***/ public String pushTo;
 	/***/ public String remoteMessage;
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Log.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Log.java
index d27793c5b..4a92ea624 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Log.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Log.java
@@ -64,16 +64,15 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.diff.DiffFormatter;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.diff.RawText;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.diff.RawTextComparator;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.diff.RenameDetector;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.LargeObjectException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.AnyObjectId;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
-import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectReader;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.PersonIdent;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.notes.NoteMap;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevCommit;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevTree;
-import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevWalk;
 import org.kohsuke.args4j.Option;
 
 @Command(common = true, usage = "usage_viewCommitHistory")
@@ -89,10 +88,6 @@ class Log extends RevWalkTextBuiltin {
 
 	private Map<String, NoteMap> noteMaps;
 
-	private ObjectReader reader;
-
-	private RevWalk revWalk;
-
 	@Option(name="--decorate", usage="usage_showRefNamesMatchingCommits")
 	private boolean decorate;
 
@@ -182,14 +177,6 @@ class Log extends RevWalkTextBuiltin {
 		fmt = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss yyyy ZZZZZ", Locale.US);
 	}
 
-	@Override
-	protected RevWalk createWalk() {
-		RevWalk ret = super.createWalk();
-		if (decorate)
-			allRefsByPeeledObjectId = getRepository().getAllRefsByPeeledObjectId();
-		return ret;
-	}
-
 	@Override
 	protected void run() throws Exception {
 		diffFmt.setRepository(db);
@@ -202,40 +189,39 @@ class Log extends RevWalkTextBuiltin {
 				rd.setRenameLimit(renameLimit.intValue());
 			}
 
-			if (!noStandardNotes || additionalNoteRefs != null) {
-				reader = db.newObjectReader();
-				revWalk = new RevWalk(db);
+			if (!noStandardNotes || !additionalNoteRefs.isEmpty()) {
+				createWalk();
 				noteMaps = new LinkedHashMap<String, NoteMap>();
 				if (!noStandardNotes) {
-					noteMaps.put(Constants.R_NOTES_COMMITS,
-							getNoteMap(Constants.R_NOTES_COMMITS));
+					addNoteMap(Constants.R_NOTES_COMMITS);
 				}
-				if (additionalNoteRefs != null) {
+				if (!additionalNoteRefs.isEmpty()) {
 					for (String notesRef : additionalNoteRefs) {
 						if (!notesRef.startsWith(Constants.R_NOTES)) {
 							notesRef = Constants.R_NOTES + notesRef;
 						}
-						noteMaps.put(notesRef, getNoteMap(notesRef));
+						addNoteMap(notesRef);
 					}
 				}
 			}
 
+			if (decorate)
+				allRefsByPeeledObjectId = getRepository()
+						.getAllRefsByPeeledObjectId();
+
 			super.run();
 		} finally {
 			diffFmt.release();
-			if (reader != null)
-				reader.release();
-			if (revWalk != null)
-				revWalk.release();
 		}
 	}
 
-	private NoteMap getNoteMap(String notesRef) throws IOException {
+	private void addNoteMap(String notesRef) throws IOException {
 		Ref notes = db.getRef(notesRef);
 		if (notes == null)
-			return null;
-		RevCommit notesCommit = revWalk.parseCommit(notes.getObjectId());
-		return NoteMap.read(reader, notesCommit);
+			return;
+		RevCommit notesCommit = argWalk.parseCommit(notes.getObjectId());
+		noteMaps.put(notesRef,
+				NoteMap.read(argWalk.getObjectReader(), notesCommit));
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -304,7 +290,7 @@ class Log extends RevWalkTextBuiltin {
 			}
 			boolean printedNote = showNotes(c, e.getValue(), label,
 					printEmptyLine);
-			atLeastOnePrinted = atLeastOnePrinted || printedNote;
+			atLeastOnePrinted |= printedNote;
 			printEmptyLine = printedNote;
 		}
 		return atLeastOnePrinted;
@@ -334,12 +320,16 @@ class Log extends RevWalkTextBuiltin {
 			out.print(")");
 		}
 		out.println(":");
-		RawText rawText = new RawText(reader.open(blobId).getBytes());
-		String s = rawText.getString(0, rawText.size(), false);
-		final String[] lines = s.split("\n");
-		for (final String l : lines) {
-			out.print("    ");
-			out.println(l);
+		try {
+			RawText rawText = new RawText(argWalk.getObjectReader()
+					.open(blobId).getCachedBytes(Integer.MAX_VALUE));
+			for (int i = 0; i < rawText.size(); i++) {
+				out.print("    ");
+				out.println(rawText.getString(i));
+			}
+		} catch (LargeObjectException e) {
+			out.println(MessageFormat.format(
+					CLIText.get().noteObjectTooLargeToPrint, blobId.name()));
 		}
 		return true;
 	}
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/RevWalkTextBuiltin.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/RevWalkTextBuiltin.java
index 768890c85..474e974cd 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/RevWalkTextBuiltin.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/RevWalkTextBuiltin.java
@@ -199,10 +199,8 @@ abstract class RevWalkTextBuiltin extends TextBuiltin {
 	}
 
 	protected RevWalk createWalk() {
-		if (objects)
-			return new ObjectWalk(db);
 		if (argWalk == null)
-			argWalk = new RevWalk(db);
+			argWalk = objects ? new ObjectWalk(db) : new RevWalk(db);
 		return argWalk;
 	}