diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline/rpi/vc4/vc4.cpp b/src/libcamera/pipeline/rpi/vc4/vc4.cpp
index fd8d84b14..fe910bdf2 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline/rpi/vc4/vc4.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline/rpi/vc4/vc4.cpp
@@ -510,9 +510,9 @@ int Vc4CameraData::platformPipelineConfigure(const std::unique_ptr<YamlObject> &
 	}

 	std::optional<std::string> target = (*root)["target"].get<std::string>();
-	if (!target || *target != "bcm2835") {
+	if (target != "bcm2835") {
 		LOG(RPI, Error) << "Unexpected target reported: expected \"bcm2835\", got "
-				<< *target;
+				<< (target ? target->c_str() : "(unknown)");
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}