What tool do you use to film your YouTube videos as a free Loom alternative for longer‑form content?
I use OBS (Open Broadcast Studio), a free software platform that lets you switch between full‑screen desktop, your face, and a picture‑in‑picture view. It works like a camera, supports custom backgrounds, and even includes built‑in streaming and chat features. You can record videos with screen share, stream, and add a green screen if you want. Spend a couple of hours learning how to use OBS and you’ll be set.
It's called OBS Studio. I use it to record my screen; it creates an infinite window effect because I'm recording a screen that's recording a screen. I have two scenes: a talking head/full face scene and a bottom-right corner scene, switched via hotkeys (though my hotkeys are broken today). For writing on screen, I use Presentify, which I bought for $10, and I use my tablet like a mouse.
I don't want to use my phone because it's a pain. Let me run you through my setup top to bottom. I'm currently using a Sony A7C camera, which I bought for about $2,000—the most I've ever spent on video gear. It eliminates a lot of the hassle I had with my previous camera. Directly beneath it is a monitor I use to stay level with the camera, avoiding neck strain from looking down at a small laptop screen. To the left, I have a light stand positioned very close to the camera, acting like a softbox at a 45‑degree angle to illuminate one side of my face. On the opposite side, I use a small light to reduce dramatic shadows. Aside from that, I use an XP Pen tablet as a mouse pad for drawing; my pen moves the cursor across the screen, and the tablet projects onto my monitor. I find the tablet workflow far more effective and engaging than my previous tool, Whimsical, and I plan to keep using it.
I record with a Sony A7 III (and sometimes the A7 C) paired with a light bar. I use an XP‑Pen tablet for drawing, a Samson Q2U microphone, and the Auphonic service to clean up the audio. For on‑screen annotations I use Presentify on macOS. The camera is high‑end but not required; you can get decent results with cheaper gear.
I'm currently in OBS. I disabled the 'hide OBS from capture' feature so it appears in the recording. I have two scenes: 'main' (just my face) and 'screen share plus overlay'. The main scene has a single video input from my camera, stretched to match my display resolution (1920 pixels wide). I use this for talking head segments at the start of videos. When I need to make a point, I switch to the screen share scene. The screen share scene currently shows an infinite mirror effect because I'm screen recording a page that shows me screen recording a page, etc., due to showing OBS while recording. To fix it, I move the window off to the left so the mirroring stops and I see the comment feed. I've meticulously set up many sources because even a small visual improvement (about 2% better) gives me a competitive edge; it takes about 15 minutes to set up and requires no ongoing upkeep. I also have a camera feed, and I added a shadow under the camera to create visual separation from the background; toggling the shadow on/off shows the difference. The red lines you see indicate distance from the top of the screen to a bubble and appear only when I click the element. I also have controls to turn off screen capture, which then shows only the wallpaper and a shadow, and turning that off leaves just the background. Finally, I have microphone and background sources; turning the background off results in a black screen. This setup lets me record directly from my camera without transferring memory cards, saving time and friction, which lets me produce more content over the year, even though it's not the highest quality.