Other skirmishes

 By holding both cameras I'm essentially renting, as I'll lose perhaps $100 or more in the transactions. Thing is, it's a rental with no fixed time limit, which is good. As I mentioned it's a hard decision. I will be making larger payments to someone, so I'd prefer to end this before two payments are called for!

I tested an all-manual 35-200mm zoom on both bodies, and tested both stills and video. Both are set to 4k30, but the S1 is stabilizing the  zoom better than the Z6. I was shooting the cloudy sunset at 35mm f/5.6, and the Z6 wasn't solid. Checking the Tamron 70-300z shows much smoother video, so it looks like native lenses use the full 5-axis capabilities as advertised. 

So was it the camera, or me missing a setting?

A menu dive confirmed the Z6' internal stabilizer focal length was indeed mis-set to 200mm - correct when using the lens at telephoto, but awful at the wide end! Tests in our pantry showed much better video with both cameras, and equally lousy results on the S1 when set to 200mm. 

However - it shows me that the Lumix asking my focal length at power up is beneficial to me! I wonder if the z6 can do that? I guess another menu dive is coming up.

On the other hand, the S1 video button placement is truly miserable for me to access. The beginning and end of each video will record my curses and a brief jitter before my right hand resumes its proper position. Better still, I need that function mapped to a different button!!