diff --git a/pkg/commands/git_commands/commit_loader.go b/pkg/commands/git_commands/commit_loader.go
index 381dd641e..987f2394e 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/git_commands/commit_loader.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/git_commands/commit_loader.go
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ func NewCommitLoader(
 }
 
 type GetCommitsOptions struct {
-	Limit                bool
+	Limit                int // the maximum number of commits to load, or 0 to load all of them
 	FilterPath           string
 	FilterAuthor         string
 	IncludeRebaseCommits bool
@@ -611,7 +611,7 @@ func (self *CommitLoader) getLogCmd(opts GetCommitsOptions) *oscommands.CmdObj {
 		Arg(prettyFormat).
 		Arg("--abbrev=40").
 		ArgIf(opts.FilterAuthor != "", "--author="+opts.FilterAuthor).
-		ArgIf(opts.Limit, "-300").
+		ArgIf(opts.Limit > 0, fmt.Sprintf("-%d", opts.Limit)).
 		ArgIf(opts.FilterPath != "", "--follow", "--name-status").
 		Arg("--no-show-signature").
 		ArgIf(opts.RefToShowDivergenceFrom != "", "--left-right").
diff --git a/pkg/gui/controllers/helpers/refresh_helper.go b/pkg/gui/controllers/helpers/refresh_helper.go
index c367fd80b..f6fc539b2 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/controllers/helpers/refresh_helper.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/controllers/helpers/refresh_helper.go
@@ -758,6 +758,10 @@ func (self *RefreshHelper) refreshReflogAndBranches(capturedReflog capturedReflo
 	return nil
 }
 
+// The number of commits that the commits and sub-commits views load at first,
+// to keep things fast. They load the rest when the user scrolls near the end.
+const commitLimit = 300
+
 // capturedCommitState holds everything the commits refresh reads from the
 // model, contexts, and modes. It is gathered on the UI thread (see
 // captureCommitsState) before the git work is dispatched to a worker, so the
@@ -852,7 +856,7 @@ func (self *RefreshHelper) refreshCommitsWithLimit(captured capturedCommitState,
 	refName, bisectInfo := self.refForLog(env)
 	commits, err := env.git.Loaders.CommitLoader.GetCommits(
 		git_commands.GetCommitsOptions{
-			Limit:                captured.limitCommits,
+			Limit:                lo.Ternary(captured.limitCommits, commitLimit, 0),
 			FilterPath:           captured.filterPath,
 			FilterAuthor:         captured.filterAuthor,
 			IncludeRebaseCommits: true,
@@ -1073,7 +1077,7 @@ func (self *RefreshHelper) refreshSubCommitsWithLimit(captured capturedSubCommit
 
 	commits, err := env.git.Loaders.CommitLoader.GetCommits(
 		git_commands.GetCommitsOptions{
-			Limit:                   captured.limitCommits,
+			Limit:                   lo.Ternary(captured.limitCommits, commitLimit, 0),
 			FilterPath:              captured.filterPath,
 			FilterAuthor:            captured.filterAuthor,
 			IncludeRebaseCommits:    false,
diff --git a/pkg/gui/controllers/helpers/sub_commits_helper.go b/pkg/gui/controllers/helpers/sub_commits_helper.go
index 09f32d1a9..e3d02dd8c 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/controllers/helpers/sub_commits_helper.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/controllers/helpers/sub_commits_helper.go
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ type ViewSubCommitsOpts struct {
 func (self *SubCommitsHelper) ViewSubCommits(opts ViewSubCommitsOpts) error {
 	commits, err := self.c.Git().Loaders.CommitLoader.GetCommits(
 		git_commands.GetCommitsOptions{
-			Limit:                   true,
+			Limit:                   commitLimit,
 			FilterPath:              self.c.Modes().Filtering.GetPath(),
 			FilterAuthor:            self.c.Modes().Filtering.GetAuthor(),
 			IncludeRebaseCommits:    false,