Before the Steadicam, a director had two choices for moving (or "tracking") shots:

While these cinematic techniques are still common, the Steadicam has added another dimension to motion picture cinematography and videography.

A Steadicam essentially combines the stabilised steady footage of a conventional tripod mount with the fluid motion of a dolly shot and the flexibility of hand-held camera work. While smoothly following the operator's broad movements, the Steadicam's armature absorbs any jerks, bumps, and shakes.

The Steadicam was introduced to the industry in 1976 by inventor and cameraman Garrett Brown,[1] who originally named the invention the "Brown Stabilizer". After completing the first working prototype, Brown shot a ten-minute demo reel of the revolutionary moves this new device could produce. This reel was seen by numerous directors, including Stanley Kubrick and John Avildsen. The Steadicam was subsequently licensed to and manufactured by Cinema Products, which later diversified the brand into a consumer line for DV cameras. The Steadicam was first used in the biopic Bound for Glory, but its breakthrough movies are considered to be Avildsen's Rocky (1976), Marathon Man (1976), and Kubrick's film The Shining (1980).

• The camera could be mounted on a "dolly", a wheeled mount that rolls on tracks or levelled boards. However, this is time consuming to set up and impractical in many situations.
• The camera operator could hold the camera in his hands. This allows greater speed and flexibility, but even the most skilled camera operator cannot prevent the image from shaking, if only minutely. Hand-held footage has therefore traditionally been considered suitable mostly for documentaries, news, reportage work, live action, unrehearsable footage, or as a special effect to evoke an atmosphere of authentic immediacy or "cinéma vérité" during dramatic sequences.