Studies of the infrared‐pumped visible luminescence of NaYF4: Yb, Er show it to have at least twice the visible output of YF3: Yb, Er when pumped with a narrow‐band excitation source at the optimum frequency. It is also free from saturation effects until very intense excitation levels are reached. The mechanism for red upconversion appears to change with increasing excitation from a two‐step process to one involving a significant amount of three‐step upconversion, which change is accompanied by an increase in the response time for visible emissions.