Can I run OBS without activating cameras?

[algal]

When I run OBS, my Logitech webcam activates, as can be seen by the green light on the camera itself that turns on to indicate when it is on.

OBS activates the camera, even even if in OBS I have selected a Scene which does not include that camera,. And it does this, even if the camera Source is disabled/deactivated in all Scenes (by clicking on the eye icon, so that it is greyed out with a slash through it).

Is there a way to configure macOS Sonoma and/or OBS so it does not activate the camera unless I am using it?

 

[AaronD]

Completely remove all references to the camera. If there's even one, somewhere, it comes on for that and stays on.

That's generally how media stuff works: everything is always running and fully active, all the time, period. Even if it's only used for a few seconds in a multi-hour production, it's already on and settled in *before* the production starts, it stays on for the *entire* duration, and it may even take a while afterwards to get around to finally shutting it down. If you don't want to use it at the moment, just block its output or send it somewhere that doesn't matter, but the thing itself keeps running.

The light on the camera is driven from the camera itself to say that it's active, which is true. That's a privacy thing, so if it comes on when you don't expect it (even considering the above), you're probably being spied on.

That also means that while OBS is active, you don't know if someone's spying on you or not, because the light is already on anyway. That's just par for the course. Media production and privacy don't really go together, so just be aware that *everything* in-frame and on-mic could become public.