I ended up using a cam for a movie from 2009 to check to see if the movie had differences between the theater version and the DVD release. It didn't but it was neat that I could, 15 years later.
So I respect it, but also, good god will I never actually watch them for the actual movie itself.
Back in the early days, watching a cammed movie was tolerable because the 480p rips that we'd otherwise get were so heavily compressed that there'd be hardly any step up in quality. It was also usually the fastest way I could find a new movie.
These days, releases get leaked from inside the studio all the time, at full quality, so there's not really any legitimate need for cammed movies anymore.
I would not say “all the time” at least the movies I watch, but it is mostly only some months (if even) until a movie is available on some streaming service and gets ripped in 4k
Hats off to those who do it. I don’t need to see things when they’re new, so I will generally just wait until there’s a home release or streaming rip. I’m not a 4k guy or whatever, I’m down with DVD quality or worse, I still wanna see it in a better format than a cam. But there’s clearly people who want it, so I’m glad people are out there doing the work.