Digital BW, The Print

I am new to this forum and am glad I have found an audience for 
my concerns with my newly acquired Scan Multi Pro. . . . namely 
the grainy look in color negatives. I agree it does transparencies 
very well.

I did a scan of a 2 1/4 Reala neg with 50 GEM and still got this 
grainy look. A friend has posted a 2% slice of a golf course 
picture shot just after sunrise on an October morning. Here is 
the URL;

http://members.rogers.com/dale-cotton/Photos/DHarrisCrop.jpg

You can see the 'peppery' look  especially in the sky. I'm not so 
sure it is film grain, or maybe it was originally and the scanning 
process has accentuated it. Remember you are looking at only a 
2% slice of the total scan so it seems flat and hazy. But this 
scene is equivalent to about a 2000mm lens

'Grain' and the scanning times are my only issues. The colors 
and shadow detail are great and unlike what I had heard, color 
negs are easy to 'get right' . When I make a 13x19 inkjet of an 
image it seems sharper than a chemical print from the same 
negative but unfortunately this sort of  'peppery' look is apparent. 

Anyway, if there are any insights they would be appreciated.

David