diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/diff/DiffFormatter.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/diff/DiffFormatter.java
index adcf0d8d6..abab3c30c 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/diff/DiffFormatter.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/diff/DiffFormatter.java
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.JGitText;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.diff.DiffAlgorithm.SupportedAlgorithm;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.diff.DiffEntry.ChangeType;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.dircache.DirCacheIterator;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.AmbiguousObjectException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.CorruptObjectException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.LargeObjectException;
@@ -91,7 +92,9 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.CanonicalTreeParser;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.TreeWalk;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.WorkingTreeIterator;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.filter.AndTreeFilter;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.filter.IndexDiffFilter;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.filter.NotIgnoredFilter;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.filter.PathFilter;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.filter.TreeFilter;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.QuotedString;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.io.DisabledOutputStream;
@@ -435,15 +438,14 @@ public class DiffFormatter {
 		walk.addTree(b);
 		walk.setRecursive(true);
 
-		TreeFilter filter = pathFilter;
-
-		if (a instanceof WorkingTreeIterator)
-			filter = AndTreeFilter.create(filter, new NotIgnoredFilter(0));
-		if (b instanceof WorkingTreeIterator)
-			filter = AndTreeFilter.create(filter, new NotIgnoredFilter(1));
-		if (!(pathFilter instanceof FollowFilter))
-			filter = AndTreeFilter.create(filter, TreeFilter.ANY_DIFF);
-		walk.setFilter(filter);
+		TreeFilter filter = getDiffTreeFilterFor(a, b);
+		if (pathFilter instanceof FollowFilter) {
+			walk.setFilter(AndTreeFilter.create(
+					PathFilter.create(((FollowFilter) pathFilter).getPath()),
+					filter));
+		} else {
+			walk.setFilter(AndTreeFilter.create(pathFilter, filter));
+		}
 
 		source = new ContentSource.Pair(source(a), source(b));
 
@@ -458,12 +460,6 @@ public class DiffFormatter {
 			walk.reset();
 			walk.addTree(a);
 			walk.addTree(b);
-
-			filter = TreeFilter.ANY_DIFF;
-			if (a instanceof WorkingTreeIterator)
-				filter = AndTreeFilter.create(new NotIgnoredFilter(0), filter);
-			if (b instanceof WorkingTreeIterator)
-				filter = AndTreeFilter.create(new NotIgnoredFilter(1), filter);
 			walk.setFilter(filter);
 
 			if (renameDetector == null)
@@ -476,6 +472,22 @@ public class DiffFormatter {
 		return files;
 	}
 
+	private static TreeFilter getDiffTreeFilterFor(AbstractTreeIterator a,
+			AbstractTreeIterator b) {
+		if (a instanceof DirCacheIterator && b instanceof WorkingTreeIterator)
+			return new IndexDiffFilter(0, 1);
+
+		if (a instanceof WorkingTreeIterator && b instanceof DirCacheIterator)
+			return new IndexDiffFilter(1, 0);
+
+		TreeFilter filter = TreeFilter.ANY_DIFF;
+		if (a instanceof WorkingTreeIterator)
+			filter = AndTreeFilter.create(new NotIgnoredFilter(0), filter);
+		if (b instanceof WorkingTreeIterator)
+			filter = AndTreeFilter.create(new NotIgnoredFilter(1), filter);
+		return filter;
+	}
+
 	private ContentSource source(AbstractTreeIterator iterator) {
 		if (iterator instanceof WorkingTreeIterator)
 			return ContentSource.create((WorkingTreeIterator) iterator);