Method of and apparatus for processing silver halide-containing photosensitive material for color photography

摘要

A method of processing a silver halide-containing photosenstitive material for color photography includes the silver-removing step in which silver which is formed by reduction in the color developing step is oxidized by a bleaching agent and further changed into a soluble silver complex by the action of a fixing agent. In this process, bleaching is carried out in both a bleaching bath and a bleach-fixing bath, and fixing is effected in the bleach-fixing bath. In the bleach-fixing bath, a stream of bleach-fixing solution is brought into contact with the emulsion coating surface of the color photosensitive material at a higher flow velocity than that of a stream of bleach-fixing solution which is circulated in the bath. The time for processing carried out in the bleaching bath is set so as to be shorter than the time for processing in a bleaching bath in a conventional method wherein removal of silver is effected by the combination of a bleaching bath and a fixing bath which involves no bleaching process, and also the total time for processing carried out in the bleaching and bleach-fixing baths is set so as to be shorter than the total time for processing in the bleaching and fixing baths in said conventional method. As bleaching and fixing agents, a ferric aminopolycarboxylic acid complex and a thiosulfate are particularly effectively employed, respectively.