Image data plays an important role in a growing number of applications. Many of those tasks call for the cameras to be integrated directly into the working equipment, creating an embedded vision system. For developers, this raises an immediate question: which hardware should be used for image acquisition? There are two common approaches. The first focuses on turnkey camera modules, typically single circuit-board cameras that function as all-in-one hardware modules and connect via a flat flex cable. Another alternative, especially when high unit counts are involved, is to have a company‘s own engineers design the integration of an image sensor onto a circuit board in-house. This article explores the pros and cons of in-house sensor integration vs. using an off-the-shelf camera module.