We present supercontinua generated in LiF and CaF(2) revealing that LiF is advantageous especially in the near UV region since it pushes the cut-off wavelength about 17 nm towards lower wavelengths and the occurrence of color centers, which has been considered as a drawback up to now, is not a limitation for its applicability in femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Even though the color centers occur within a short time of illumination, they do not influence the supercontinuum generation significantly and they can furthermore, if desired, be eliminated from the substrate simply by heating. Thus LiF is a promising substrate for broad band measurements in the UV/vis range.