You mentioned that your friend had used a consumer-grade C-41 process film, but not how the printing was done. My last (and probably last-ever) roll of Kodak color negative was processed by the local drop-off service, and I was amazed at the luminosity, sharpness, and tonal smoothness of the prints. That is, until I realized that these were not exactly the images that I had made--they were prints made from digital scans of the negatives, and had clearly had some post-scan processing to make them consumer-friendly. (I'm amazed that it was cost-effective for the shop to do this, but that is another matter entirely.)
If this is what you are dealing with, rest assured that a modest amount of digital processing would undoubtedly improve the tonality, sharpness, and grain of your 4x5s. You might be comparing home-grown apples to injection-molded, airbrush-painted wax oranges.
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