diff --git a/drivers/staging/vc04_services/bcm2835-camera/controls.c b/drivers/staging/vc04_services/bcm2835-camera/controls.c
index d60e378bdfce82..c251164655ba81 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/vc04_services/bcm2835-camera/controls.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/vc04_services/bcm2835-camera/controls.c
@@ -604,15 +604,28 @@ static int ctrl_set_bitrate(struct bm2835_mmal_dev *dev,
 			    struct v4l2_ctrl *ctrl,
 			    const struct bm2835_mmal_v4l2_ctrl *mmal_ctrl)
 {
+	int ret;
 	struct vchiq_mmal_port *encoder_out;
 
 	dev->capture.encode_bitrate = ctrl->val;
 
 	encoder_out = &dev->component[MMAL_COMPONENT_VIDEO_ENCODE]->output[0];
 
-	return vchiq_mmal_port_parameter_set(dev->instance, encoder_out,
-					     mmal_ctrl->mmal_id, &ctrl->val,
-					     sizeof(ctrl->val));
+	ret = vchiq_mmal_port_parameter_set(dev->instance, encoder_out,
+					    mmal_ctrl->mmal_id, &ctrl->val,
+					    sizeof(ctrl->val));
+
+	v4l2_dbg(1, bcm2835_v4l2_debug, &dev->v4l2_dev,
+		 "%s: After: mmal_ctrl:%p ctrl id:0x%x ctrl val:%d ret %d(%d)\n",
+		 __func__, mmal_ctrl, ctrl->id, ctrl->val, ret,
+		 (ret == 0 ? 0 : -EINVAL));
+
+	/*
+	 * Older firmware versions (pre July 2019) have a bug in handling
+	 * MMAL_PARAMETER_VIDEO_BIT_RATE that result in the call
+	 * returning -MMAL_MSG_STATUS_EINVAL. So ignore errors from this call.
+	 */
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static int ctrl_set_bitrate_mode(struct bm2835_mmal_dev *dev,