This is what I do for both work-related (and as of this year, recreational) video conferences. At the start of the pandemic, I only had an older webcam which maxed out at 1280x720, didn't have much in the way of onboard hardware processing capability, and looked generally cruddy. Set up OBS initially so I could use the basic color correction and then moved on to playing around with chromakey backgrounds (sure beats the software chroma in Zoom and Webex).
Once C920 came back in stock (at non-scalper prices) I did pick one up and it was a modest improvement. Overall performance is just better across the board. Only real annoyance is how I have to reconfigure the video options every time I start OBS since the cam likes to revert back to auto white balance/focus/exposure. Still, it takes less than a minute to set it back to where I want it.
For lighting, I have a couple of those clamp-on utility lights that are sold at just about any hardware store. Each one has a sheet of kitchen parchment paper clipped to the housing to act as a basic diffuser. Between whatever desk lamp or sunlight I have coming in, the two clamp lights let me set up a reasonable 3-point lighting and avoid any weird shadows.
For audio, I have an old Tascam USB audio interface with 1/4" and XLR inputs along with headphone monitor out. Hooked up an old Shure vocal mic on a stand and I get quality and a pickup pattern I just couldn't touch with a headset or desktop condenser mic.
A lot of this was only affordable because I had some of the stuff (mic, USB interface) laying around already, but that was sort of the takeaway. Make use of the best stuff you already own, consider what hacky solutions you might use to fill in some gaps, and only then spend more money on a better camera, lights, etc.
Once C920 came back in stock (at non-scalper prices) I did pick one up and it was a modest improvement. Overall performance is just better across the board. Only real annoyance is how I have to reconfigure the video options every time I start OBS since the cam likes to revert back to auto white balance/focus/exposure. Still, it takes less than a minute to set it back to where I want it.
For lighting, I have a couple of those clamp-on utility lights that are sold at just about any hardware store. Each one has a sheet of kitchen parchment paper clipped to the housing to act as a basic diffuser. Between whatever desk lamp or sunlight I have coming in, the two clamp lights let me set up a reasonable 3-point lighting and avoid any weird shadows.
For audio, I have an old Tascam USB audio interface with 1/4" and XLR inputs along with headphone monitor out. Hooked up an old Shure vocal mic on a stand and I get quality and a pickup pattern I just couldn't touch with a headset or desktop condenser mic.
A lot of this was only affordable because I had some of the stuff (mic, USB interface) laying around already, but that was sort of the takeaway. Make use of the best stuff you already own, consider what hacky solutions you might use to fill in some gaps, and only then spend more money on a better camera, lights, etc.