A series of vanadium-doped lithium niobate crystals was grown and their photorefractive properties were investigated with a 532 nm laser. At a total light intensity of 471 mW/cm(2), a short response time of only 0.57 s was achieved for 0.1 mol.% vanadium in LiNbO(3). The photorefractive process is dominated by the diffusion field instead of the photovoltaic field. The dominant charge carriers are electrons. The possible mechanism for the fast photorefractive response is discussed.