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Nikon D40, traveling with kids and fireworks?

I have a preschooler and an infant that will be going on their first trip to Disney this summer. I plan on taking my Nikon D40, which I've only had for a few months and absoultely love, with us to take pictures. I would like to take only one lens that will be good for snap shots but can also work well for taking pictures of the scenery there and at least one evening fireworks display. If this is possilbe, what lens would your recommend to take? Also I've never taken night photos with the D40 and any help or website tutorials you could provide would be great. I need to get my practice in before our big trip in August. I'd like to take just one lens since I will have a lot of daily baggage from the baby. I currently have the kit lens and the Nikkor 70-200mm. I am not opposed to getting another lens as long as it has the option to auto focus so a suggestion in the appropriate functioning would be great (such as the AF-S series). Thanks.

Public Comments

1. the kit lens would be fine for the job, the nikkor 70-200m is way too specific and not to mention heavy :)
2. If you didn't have the 70-200 I would suggest the 18-200mm VR lens. It is probably the most versatile lens they make. That said I don't see why you would buy this now. It is not cheap and you already have those focal lengths covered. I would probably bring both lenses but if you had to choose only one I quess I would take the kit lens. As far as night shots go you have to decide whether you will be using flash or not. If you are using the flash then there really wont be much difference. Depending on the available light you may want to try to focus manually. Your camera may have a tough time autofocusing. If you are not using flash you will need a tripod. You will also have to practice a bit to figure out the best shutter speeds. Basically what you will need to do is bracket your shots. Start out with a shutter speed of a few seconds and see what you get. Continue raising the shutter speed until you get proper exposure. The shutter speed will really be dependant on the amount of available light. In a very dark situation it might take several minutes to get correct exposure. In a situation with a lot of available light you will only need a few seconds. Practice in different situations before you go and you should be able to figure it out. The tripod will be extremely important. You can not hold the camera steady enough to not get blurry shots below 1/60th of a second.
3. Take the kit lens, it will be more useful at Disney. If you are thinking of getting another, the 18-200vr is a good walk-around lens, and so is the 18-135, but it does not have vr. For fireworks, start with a shutter speed of about 1 second and get longer from there. You'll need a tripod. If you don't have one, or the park doesn't allow them, then prop the camera on a table. For regular night photos in the park, use a high ISO and wide angle and you might handhold with decent results. You'll just have to see how much light you have as to how well it works. Have fun at Disney. Be sure to take mid day breaks for you and the children to rest.