Patent ID: 6376162
Filing Date: 2002-04-23
Classification: G03C

Abstract:
A method for processing an imagewise exposed silver halide color photographic material comprising a support having thereon one or more light-sensitive silver halide emulsion layers, at least one layer of which contains a monodisperse emulsion of silver bromochloroiodide, silver chloride or silver bromochlioride grains containing about 30 mol % or less of silver bromide and having a ratio S/r of the standard deviation S of the grain diameter distribution to the average grain diameter r of 0.20 or below, the coating amount of silver of said photographic material is 0.75 g/m2 or less, comprising the steps of continuously processing with a color developer having a chloride ion content of 0.04 to 0.15 mol/l and containing a water-soluble high polymer component, followed by desilvering and then one or both of washing and stabilizing, wherein said water-soluble high polymer component consists of a water-soluble high polymer compound which is present in an addition amount of 0.001 to 10 g per liter of the color developer and which is a homopolymer or a copolymer consisting essentially of at least one repeating unit selected from the group consisting of(i) the following repeating units (ii) the repeating units represented by one of the following formulae (III), (IV), and (V): wherein R1 represents a hydrogen atom or a lower alkyl group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms, R11 and R12 each represent a hydrogen atom, a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group of 1 to 8 carbon atoms, or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group of 6 to 14 carbon atoms, or R11 and R12 may bond together to form a ring structure; wherein R1 has the same meaning as defined in formula (III) given above, R13 and R14 each represent a hydrogen atom or a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, or they may bond together to form a lactam ring, an oxazolidone ring, or a pyrrolidone ring, which ring structures may be substituted; and wherein R1 has the same meaning as defined in formula (III) given above, and Z represents a group of atoms required to form a 5- to 7-membered ring structure, which may be substituted.