MIPI CSI-2 is a camera serial interface. It carries image data from a module to an SoC on a few differential lanes, at low power, with a clock the sensor actually likes. Phones made it famous. Embedded vision kept it because USB is too heavy and parallel DVP runs out of pins.
What you are buying
- A sensor plus a flex or board-to-board that matches your connector.
- Lane count and bit depth that fit the SoC. 2 lanes at 10-bit is not 4 lanes at 12-bit.
- MCLK, I2C, reset, and power rails. Kits often omit a clean 24 MHz. Factory modules expect it.
- A driver. Pi and Jetson have ones. Your own SoC might not.
In the shop
Browse MIPI camera modules. Same die often exists as a Pi SKU and a Jetson SKU. Example: AR0234CS Raspberry Pi module and AR0234CS Jetson module. That split is the point: the flex and the pinout are the product, not only the CMOS name.
Compared with USB: MIPI is shorter, faster, and yours to break. Compared with DVP: fewer wires, more speed, more clock hygiene. If you are still on an MCU with DVP, stay there until the host changes. Do not force CSI-2 onto a chip that does not have it.