The FF′ conversion is initiated by flash‐light excitation at room temperature with the aim of obtaining data on the electron trapping and transition characteristics in KCl crystals of various purity and coloured in different ways. The purest, γ‐irradiated sample exhibits a relatively short F' lifetime and a proportionally large F centre‐to‐anion vacancy cross‐section ratio presumably resulting from an enhanced trapping ability of the F centre. In contrast, Na‐containing irradiated samples show unusually long F' lifetimes, not correlated to the corresponding cross‐section ratios. The F' yield in the pure samples is found to drop on repeated flashing which presumably reflects the drop in F centre ionization quantum efficiency as a result of clustering processes. Electrolytically coloured samples doped with divalent cations are also investigated.