Patent ID: 7416828

Claim:
A developing method comprising: forming a magnetic brush of a two component developer comprising a toner and a magnetic carrier so as to be borne on a surface of a developer bearing member by means of magnetic poles of a magnet fixed in the developer bearing member; and developing an electrostatic latent image on a surface of an image bearing member with the magnetic brush in a developing region, in which the image bearing member and the developer bearing member are opposed to each other, while moving the image bearing member, and moving the magnetic brush by moving the developer bearing member without moving the magnet to form a toner image on the surface of the image bearing member, wherein the developing method satisfies the following relationships (1) and (2): 0.30 ≦A nc /A t ≦0.70 (1) wherein A t represents an area of a development portion of the photoreceptor in the developing region, and A nc represents an area of a carrier-noncontact portion of the photoreceptor in the development portion thereof with which the magnetic brush is not contacted when the development portion has no latent image, and 0.8 ≦Avc/vs≦ 1.1 (2) wherein Avc represents an average moving velocity of carrier particles of the magnetic carrier in the magnetic brush, said carrier particles being contacted with the image bearing member, and vs represents a moving velocity of the surface of the developer bearing member.