Abstract: A method of processing silver halide black-and-white photographic material in a processing machine which transports the material to be processed, through several processing tanks. The processing machine includes at least one tank with fixing ability and at least one tank which is either a wash or stabilizer tank. The wash or stabilizer tank furthest from the fixer tank(s) is replenished with wash or stabilizer solution. Outflow from the wash tank or stabilizer tank nearest the fixer tank(s) is passed to the nearest fixer tank together with a fixer replenishment solution to maintain the fixer's working composition. The total submersion time in the tank(s) having fixing ability is less than 25 seconds and the ratio of coated silver in the unprocessed photographic material (in g/m.sup.2) to the sum of the rates of addition to the fixer tank (in l/m.sup.2) of the wash outflow and fixer replenishment solution is greater than 10 g/l.