Hi Ray,
Thanks for taking the time to look at the image!
I do see what you mean by the loss of focus in the edges of the image, and there are a couple of reasons for this. The lens, first of all, is a 50mm, and it was used at f5.6. It's well known that the older - in this case a "C" lens - blads can get a bit soft towards the edges, and that's what's happened here. I don't particularly mind in this instance, and am intenting to use that to best effect in the future.
In addition, the shot was taken with the lens pointed upwards, and not at a 90 degree angle to the subject, which again has contributed to a loss of depth of field, particularly in the bottom of the image.
Finally, in relation to the grain - not sure what to say. I currently have the image on my screen, at a magnification of 200%, and I can't see any grain at all. If it was grainy, it would certainly have shown in the deep black on the left hand side, but I can't see any at all here. By the way, the neg was professionally drum scanned at my local pro lab.
Again, thanks for taking the time to give some feedback!
Cheers,
Pete