Forgive my ignorance but what and how is metering the light?
When you press the shutter-release button halfway down, your camera will use its built-in light meter to determine the proper exposure for your picture. You can read the aperture and shutter speed it has selected at the bottom of the viewfinder and also on the display on the back of the camera. In manual mode, the display will show the settings you have selected, and also display an indication whether your exposure is correct, high, or low.
After many test shots, the best settings I found for this location is ISO 400, F5.6 and 5 second shutter. That seemed to give the most realistic photos using the LCD.
Regardless which you select, manual mode or aperture priority mode, I recommend starting out with the aperture set to the widest opening possible. The f-stop number, therefore, should the be the smallest possible. Wide aperture = small f-stop number. A wide aperture means more light enters the camera, and you can use shorter exposures. More light also means less noise. The only disadvantage to using a wide aperture is that focusing is more sensitive. "Depth of field" is reduced when you use a large aperture, so focus must be precise. At 300 meters, however, your depth of field will be pretty deep. Focusing should not be hard.
Alternatively, you could set the smallest possible aperture, and live with super long exposure times. I'm talking about 30-60 seconds or more, whatever it takes to get the histogram right (described below). I do not recommend this. The only reason I mention it is in case you cannot get the focus right. With a small aperture, focusing at 300 meters, depth of field is huge. Focusing at any distance halfway close to 300m will get you a sharp image. Setting the focus to infinity is what I would try first. On a windy night, however, long exposures can be a problem. If the trees sway in the breeze, you will get blurry pictures. That's another reason why using the widest aperture is probably best. That will give you the shortest exposure times.
Instead of fully manual mode, you could use aperture-priority mode. In aperture-priority mode, you select the aperture, and the camera sets the shutter speed. If you did that, then any adjustments you make to exposure have to be done via exposure compensation, yet another setting on your camera. It might be easier to keep everything manual.
The method I recommend for setting exposure was given above. Take a test shot using your brightest, longest throwing, highest candela flashlight. Display the image on your camera back. Switch to histogram view. Check that the vertical bars on the histogram taper off near the edges of the histogram. If a tall bar is touching the side of the histogram, then your image is being "clipped." You want the final bar on the right side to be height zero. Don't worry too much about the left side.
If clipping occurs on the right side, then your image is overexposed. In that case, reduce the shutter speed, and take another test shot. If your image is clipped on the left side of the histogram, then your image is underexposed. When that happens, increase the shutter speed, and try again.
Increase camera exposure as much as possible without clipping on the right side of the histogram. Do not worry about the left side of the histogram. Do not worry if the camera says your exposure is incorrect. The brightest flashlight should use the bright part of the histogram. That's the right side. That leaves room for the dim flashlights on the left side of the histogram.
This technique may produce a slight overexposure for your brightest flashlight. That's okay. When the images taken with dimmer flashlights are compared, the overexposure will show which light is brighter.
If you want to refine this technique, take a test shot with your dimmest flashlight. Do this after setting exposure as describe above. Check the resulting histogram. Does the dimmest flashlight clip on the left side of the histogram? If so, keep everything as is. If not, you can lower exposure a bit, if you judge that to be more realistic.
Once you have the exposure nailed down, use the same settings for every shot.
Until I'm off my crutches, I can't use the remote app on my tablet to control the camera. However using the 2 second delay worked perfectly.
Excellent.
So using the digital zoom to focus as recommended worked well when I tried earlier today. When I tried tonight, the LCD was black with only a fainest hint of light. That was with using the TM36vn and X60vn. The faint light was with the X60vn. Now the light was targeted at 300 meters. So I just zoomed in on the X60vn and adjusted the focus and took a photo and repeated until focused? Any other ideas for focusing?
Are you using manual focus? If not, I am not surprised your camera has trouble focusing.
With manual focus, start by setting the focus to infinity. If you need to focus a bit closer than that, it won't be by much. 300m ~ infinity for most camera lenses.
Does your camera have a viewfinder? If it is an optical viewfinder, that will often be the best place to check focus. If your viewfinder is an electronic viewfinder, essentially a small LCD screen, focusing can be difficult. In that case, experiment to see whether you can assess focus better through the viewfinder or the display on the back of the camera. As was mentioned, zooming in on the electronic display may be the best way to check focus there. Your display may have a special "focus zoom" or "magnifier" that is separate from the real zoom. That way, you can check focus without changing the zoom chosen for the image.
Once you have the focus set, you do not have to touch or check it again unless you jostle the camera or start messing with other camera settings.
The lens kept getting dew on it and o had to use a microfiber cloth to remove it. Any tips on keeping the dew off the lens or this a fact of life?
Many photographers put a UV filter over the lens unless some other filter is in use. That won't stop the dew, but at least it protects the lens. Obviously, you could put the lens cap on in between shots, but be careful not to nudge the camera if you do. Might be easier to drape your microfiber cloth over the camera barrel and lens.
I think I got better pics than last night, I'm downloading them now so I'll see.
Thanks for the help and keep it coming.
Glad to hear the pics are getting better!
One final note: don't be afraid to try an ISO setting higher than 400. These are not "art" shots. A little noise will not ruin them. Higher ISO mean shorter exposures. On a windy night, that could be worth a lot. Once again, a few test shots will allow you to judge what you think is best. You may not see the noise on your camera display unless you zoom in, so you may prefer to wait until you get back to your PC to check.