I've learned the shots above are NOT how the print actually looks because they are captures of the scan in raw format and have not been corrected for display on a computer screen. Without proper color space settings, the images above look desaturated.
Here are two explanations from the experts for what your seeing:
You are looking at raw scans, similar to looking at raw out of a DSLR. All scanners work this way to ensure that none of the detail is lost from the print, you then apply a LUT to get the image to look right on an 8bit per pixel computer monitor.
For an overview, watch this video:http://vimeo.com/97873733
It is talking about a variety of things, but you can see the change of image once different LUTs are applied. Once the LUT for the IB Film stock is applied, your vibrancy will be there, yet all the shadow and highlight details preserved.
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re:colors. imagine cramming a lot more info into a more limited display range. the result will be a low-contrast and desaturated image.
but all the information is there, it just can't be displayed properly, so it's a compressed representation of what's actually there.
are you familiar with hdr? it's a similar process...there's a lot more information being captured than most of today's displays can even handle, i capture about 13 stops of lattitude.
maybe this will help illustrate: