diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline/vimc/vimc.cpp b/src/libcamera/pipeline/vimc/vimc.cpp
index 1713dc0ca932..1c4135cc6daa 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline/vimc/vimc.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline/vimc/vimc.cpp
@@ -427,13 +427,14 @@ bool PipelineHandlerVimc::match(DeviceEnumerator *enumerator)
 		return false;
 
 	data->ipa_ = IPAManager::createIPA<ipa::vimc::IPAProxyVimc>(this, 0, 0);
-	if (data->ipa_ != nullptr) {
-		std::string conf = data->ipa_->configurationFile("vimc.conf");
-		data->ipa_->init(IPASettings{ conf, data->sensor_->model() });
-	} else {
-		LOG(VIMC, Warning) << "no matching IPA found";
+	if (!data->ipa_) {
+		LOG(VIMC, Error) << "no matching IPA found";
+		return false;
 	}
 
+	std::string conf = data->ipa_->configurationFile("vimc.conf");
+	data->ipa_->init(IPASettings{ conf, data->sensor_->model() });
+
 	/* Create and register the camera. */
 	std::set<Stream *> streams{ &data->stream_ };
 	std::shared_ptr<Camera> camera =