How Many Minutes of Work Does a Roll of Portra 400 Cost? Comparing a "Film Index" Across Five Countries

How much do film prices differ from country to country? And for the people who work there, how "heavy" a purchase is a single roll of film?

Economists have the "Big Mac Index," which compares price levels across countries using the price of a McDonald's Big Mac. The Swiss bank UBS also used to calculate how many minutes people in different countries and cities had to work to buy a Big Mac or an iPhone (World Economic Forum). We applied both ideas to film, estimating a "Film Index": how many minutes of work it takes to buy one roll of film in five countries, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and South Korea.

On an average wage, buying one roll of Portra 400 takes 124 minutes of work in Japan, the longest of the five countries and about five times as long as in the US (25 minutes). Because Portra 400 is sold very differently from country to country, we also ran the numbers for Kodak UltraMax 400, which is easier to compare. Here too, Japan came in at 68 minutes, more than four times the US figure (15 minutes).

On the other hand, once UltraMax 400 prices are converted to yen, Japan, the UK, South Korea and Germany are only about 10% apart. Film seems to be a "heavy" purchase in Japan not so much because of the price itself, but because prices are high relative to wages.

How long does it take to buy Portra 400?

Figure 1: Working time needed to buy one roll of each of three films (average wage). 35mm, 36 exposures; median price across one to three online stores in each country. Prices as of October 2026. We could not find a store in South Korea with Fujifilm 400 in stock

In Japan, Portra 400 (including Ektacolor Pro 400) costs ¥4,680 a roll, which takes 124 minutes, or more than two hours, of work on an average wage. On the minimum wage it takes 239 minutes, about four hours. Even comparing yen-converted prices, the UK is 15% cheaper than Japan and Germany 26% cheaper.

That said, one reason Portra 400 comes out so expensive in Japan is the way it is sold. Japan's big electronics retailers sell Portra 400 only in five-packs (¥24,000, or ¥4,800 a roll). Single rolls are available only from shops that split five-packs and sell the rolls individually, or from a few shops that carry single rolls of Ektacolor Pro 400. Our figures prioritize single-roll prices. Using five-pack prices (median of three stores), the per-roll price in Japan is ¥3,960, which brings the figure down to 105 minutes on an average wage. In the US, meanwhile, the major retailer B&H had discontinued single rolls of Portra 400.

UltraMax 400 is easier to compare

The strength of the Big Mac Index is that the same product is sold in the same form in every country. Portra 400 varies from country to country in both how it is sold and what it is called, so it was not well suited as a benchmark for the index.

So let's look at Kodak UltraMax 400 as well. We confirmed single rolls in stock at 13 of the 15 stores we checked, so we used it as the benchmark for the index this time. Portra 400 and Fujifilm 400, which Fujifilm sells under the same name in many countries, are included for comparison. All three are ISO 400 color negative films, so they can be compared side by side.

Yen-converted prices are almost level

Figure 2: Price per roll of UltraMax 400 (converted to yen). Exchange rates are ECB reference rates (October 12, 2026). US prices exclude sales tax

Converted to yen, UltraMax 400 prices in Japan, the UK, South Korea and Germany fell within about 10% of each other. Only the US is clearly cheaper, at around 40% less than Japan. However, US prices do not include sales tax, which varies by state and is added at checkout.

By working time, Japan takes more than four times as long as the US

Even when yen-converted prices are nearly the same, the burden looks completely different once you factor in local wages. Buying one roll of UltraMax 400 in Japan takes 68 minutes, more than an hour, of work on an average wage. That is about twice as long as in the UK or Germany, and more than four times as long as in the US. On the minimum wage the gap widens further, with Japan exceeding two hours at 131 minutes.

These "minutes of work" figures are calculated by dividing the local price by the local hourly wage, so no exchange rates are involved. Japan comes out longer because film prices are high relative to Japanese wages. That said, higher import costs caused by the weak yen may be built into Japanese shelf prices themselves.

With Fujifilm 400, Japan is cheaper than the UK and Germany

Fujifilm 400 was the one case where the result was reversed. In Japan, Fujifilm raised prices on its domestic color negative films by 21–22% in April 2025 (PetaPixel). Even so, in yen terms Japan (¥2,074) is cheaper than the UK (¥2,818, +36%) and Germany (¥2,445, +18%), and only about 10% more expensive than the US (¥1,862). In working time, however, Japan comes in at 55 minutes, more than three times the US figure (17 minutes).

Some stores list the country of origin of Fujifilm 400 as the "USA," and it is widely said to be made by Kodak. So although it carries the Fujifilm brand, note that this comparison is not a comparison between "made by Fujifilm" and "made by Kodak."

We also checked Velvia 50 and Provia 100F, reversal films that Fujifilm makes itself, but the only stock we could find was Velvia 50 on Amazon.co.jp (¥5,500); they are almost impossible to get. At the other 14 stores, they were either out of stock, not carried, or we could not confirm stock status.

How many hours for a year's worth?

In FilmFocus's Film Photography Survey 2025, respondents used about 14 rolls of 35mm per year on average. If all 14 rolls were UltraMax 400, that would work out to about 16 hours of work on an average Japanese wage, or about 29 hours for Portra 400. Buying the same number of rolls at US prices and wages would take about three and a half hours for UltraMax 400. Annual usage presumably differs by country, so this is only a rough estimate.

Notes

Please keep the following in mind when reading these figures.

• These are not the lowest prices. In each country, we picked three online stores that ranked highly in Google search and used the median of their prices. There may well be cheaper stores
• Only online prices are included. In-store prices may differ
• US prices exclude sales tax; prices for Japan, the UK, Germany and South Korea include tax
• Loyalty points are not included. Japan's big electronics retailers often give around 10% back in points, so the actual cost is somewhat lower
• Wages are 2025 figures. Prices are from October 2026, so one year's worth of wage increases is not reflected
• This is a pilot covering only five countries. Some items, such as Portra 400 in South Korea, had only one store with stock

Despite these limitations, because every country is compared using the same method, we believe the results serve as a guide to the trend of "where film is a heavy purchase."

Methodology

Websites compared

These are the stores selected from the top of Google search results in each country (as of October 2026).

Data sources

Among the five countries, the working time needed to buy one roll of UltraMax 400 was shortest in the US at 15 minutes and longest in Japan at 68 minutes, a gap of more than four times.

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