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 40a5b3764..231b8ab20 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/diff/DiffFormatter.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/diff/DiffFormatter.java
@@ -82,9 +82,9 @@ public class DiffFormatter {
 
 	private Repository db;
 
-	private int context;
+	private int context = 3;
 
-	private int abbreviationLength;
+	private int abbreviationLength = 7;
 
 	private RawText.Factory rawTextFactory = RawText.FACTORY;
 
@@ -100,8 +100,6 @@ public class DiffFormatter {
 	 */
 	public DiffFormatter(OutputStream out) {
 		this.out = out;
-		setContext(3);
-		setAbbreviationLength(7);
 	}
 
 	/** @return the stream we are outputting data to. */