A lot of noise at night
 

I'm using a D80, and I've noticed that it seems to pick up a lot of noise in night photos, even with the ISO kept at 400 or less.

Am I missing something in the settings?

Thanks!

Other than the ISO, you're not telling us much about what you're doing. If you're making long exposures this can result in noise problems.
Why not post a few problem images up with all the relevant data (shutter speed, aperture etc.), so we can see what's going on.

When I focus on objects that are close by, it's not an issue. It's particularly an issue with mountains / trees in the background of darker photos (sometimes the sky picks up a lot of noise as well).

Some of my photos from New Zealand come to mind. I'll try to post a couple later tonight.

Jet,

I haven't had a chance to get to my NZ photos, they're on an external hard drive at home.

Looking through the ones I have on this computer, however, maybe it was just selection bias on my part. Very few of my photos have noise in them. From the ones that I do notice noise, it seems like that noise was introduced when I processed the photo.

D80's are reputably noisy I know mine is and very often need anti noise programs in darker areas and have been sharpened which does increase noise. I did read somewhere that sharpening first then using the noiseware progs is best, try to stick with your ISO as low as possible.

Thanks. I usually won't go above ISO 400. What software do you use to reduce nose?

You shouldn't really be shooting at 400 at night. This is not high enough for a quick exposure, so your got a unhealthy mix of high iso's and long exposures, no camera likes this. You should be on a tripod set at iso 100.

Bob I use Noiseware Professional and Topaz De Noise with Topaz my favourite.