Silver halide photographic materials and process of developing them

Abstract

A silver halide photographic light-sensitive material and a developing process used in connection with that material are disclosed. The material is comprised of a support having thereon a silver halide emulsion layer containing a silver halide emulsion in which at least 80 mole % of the whole silver halide is composed of silver chloride, the mean grain size thereof is less than 0.4 .mu.m, and which contains more than 1.times.10.sup.-6 mole of a water-soluble rhodium salt per mole of silver at an optional period before finishing the first ripening in the production step for the silver halide emulsion. The material also contains 1.times.10.sup.-5 to 1.times.10.sup.-2 mole of polyalkylene oxide having a molecular weight of at least 600 or a derivative thereof per mole of silver. The process involves imagewise exposing the material and processing it in a developer containing 0.05 to 0.5 mole/liter of a dihydroxybenzene series developing agent, 0 to 0.05 g/liter of an auxiliary developing agent, at least 0.25 mole/liter of a free sulfite ion, at least 20 mg/liter of 5- or 6-nitroindazole, and an alkali of an amount sufficient for keeping the pH of the developer higher than 10.5. The material and processing are capable of providing good letter image quality in a short developing time.