My history with the Steadicam goes back to its very inception. I knew Garrett personally in those days, and I was the "package deal" Steadicam operator for Cinemobile Systems when there were only a few dozen Steadicams in existence (and even fewer good operators). When a producer or director wanted some Steadicam work on their show, they would usually hire Garrett, Ted (Churchill) or if they were getting their equipment package from Cinemobile (and most did), hire Cinemobile's Steadicam rig and "package op". I was the house op (as an independent contractor) that went with the Cinemobile Steadicam package.

In watching movies and TV shows from the late 70's and early 80's, if there's a credit that says "Equipment Furnished by Cinemobile Systems", and they have some Steadicam shots in it, unless someone else is the credited op, the "Furnished by Cinemobile Systems" Steadicam operator is me. For some unfathomable reason, Steadicam operators were very rarely given a screen credit in those days.

The rig pictured above is a modified (universal) Model 2, and I am flying a 35mm Arri BL. That sucker was huge and heavy (I used to call it the "Heavycam"). The focus was handled via a tethered cable to a electromechanical focus box. It all looks pretty primitive compared to later designs and the advent of wireless focus systems, but it all worked, and it worked very, very well. As far as I know, only Garrett, Ted, and myself were successfully flying full 500'/400' mag long sound takes using the Panavision Panaflex or Arri 35 BL cameras. Ted was also just starting to play around with the PanaGlide (Panavision), but I never much cared for it. There really isn't that much difference in operation or moves from this early model compared to the modern Pro II package I use today.

Unlike today where you see "Steadicam Owner / Operator" a lot, no operators I knew back then (except for Garrett) owned their own Steadicam rig. Ed (DiGiulio) got around $60K a pop for a Model 2, or about the same price as two fully configured 35mm Arri BL packages. Ed made up for the high price by being one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. Always willing to help a cameraman with a free equipment loaner, or some free Cinema Products shop time to make that special widget we DPs just had to have. He and Bob (Gottschalk) of Panavision had those same personal traits in common.

I have continued to be a professional film and video "flyer" over the past 30 years, and now specialize in digital cinematography Steadicam work using my Pro II sled rig with a Sony CineAlta F900, my SK2 rig with a Pana VariCam, and a Flyer or heavily modified MagiqCam 2A rig with my JVC 16:9 HD cams.

Although I think Garrett's creation is a terrific contribution to the tools of filmmaking, like a lot of other novel inventions in the motion picture business, it tends to be used much too often (and sometimes... not often enough :).

Movie audiences are pretty sophisticated, and whether they realize it or not, understand the language of film much better than they are ever given credit for. Each tool we use in the making of a film has an effect on what the audience reacts to (and hopefully, its the same reaction the filmmaker wanted to elicit).

DP's (and directors) shouldn't use a Steadicam when a handheld camera will better impart on the audience the urgency or chaos of a scene (and the opposite is also true). Likewise, for certain scenes, a dolly (or tracking shot) using a gear head is the only way to get the subtle focus and perspective changes necessary to give the scene the impact the director is trying to impart on the audience.

These "older tools" are often dismissed as too dated or time consuming. But lazy (and unimaginative) filmmaking never results in a good film, no matter how avant-garde the tools used in the making of it.