What the fuck am I supposed to do to get noise to acceptable levels in post? It seems like the standard noise reduction tools I use (darktable, digikam) just turn photos into a smeary mess while also retaining some noise. I know getting a full frame camera would reduce the issue, and I know cranking ISO will get to a point where shit is unsalvagable. But it seems like the JPGs my camera spit out end up looking nicer overall if the photo has any significant noise, so I know there's a way to do it. If I could even achieve the JPG levels of noise reduction myself, I would consider that a success.

Pic isn't a great shot and not something I wanted to keep, but illustrates something I took recently at what I thought wasn't a rediculous ISO. Again, the JPG came out "okay". Yes it's at night, yes it's APS-C. I get it. Those things are working against me, but the camera itself seems to know how to make it look acceptable.

Related, are there any alternative things you can do to salvage a shot littered with shitty noise? I've seen people say to go b&w, but that seems like a last-resort. Rescalling to smaller sizes also seems appealing.