Single crystals of pure Cu and Cu-8%Al with two initial orientations, {112}111 and {112}110, were subjected to monotonic compression in channel-die at room temperature (293 K). The dislocation microstructure and local crystallography were investigated by transmission electron microscopy after different amounts of deformation. Various factors, such as initial single crystal orientation, chemical composition and amount of plastic deformation, were analysed in order to determine their influence on the microstructure evolution, local orientation variations and strain localization phenomena.