From the analysis of convergent-beam electron diffraction patterns it is well known that the intensity of some reflections may become most sensitive to the crystal thickness variation at special conditions for thickness and orientation. This can be understood as a dynamic effect as well as a kinematic effect of electron diffraction. Using such a diffracted beam for imaging, a small change in thickness of a single crystal can be observed in an electron microscope. At the beginning of the application of this technique only weak beams were used for imaging the surface topography of undistorted single crystals. Thickness differences down to the atomic level could be detected in darkfield micrographs of MgO and Au. However, the intensity of the weak beams was so low that long exposure times up to 2 minutes were necessary to record a micrograph at a magnification of 20,000. This magnification is the upper limit for the weak-beam darkfield technique for reasons of stability of the electron microscope. The thickness contrast can be explained already by the kinematical theory of electron diffraction.