Blackmagic Design has announced a new accessory that adds professional camera connections to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. The Blackmagic Design Camera ProDock transforms your iPhone into a powerful production tool, adding features such as external timecode and Genlock.
Compatibility
Blackmagic Design is advertising the Camera ProDock as being for the newest iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. However, it’s only the genlock feature that requires the newest models of Apple’s smartphones. All of the other features of the Camera ProDock are available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models. The ProDock also supports the Blackmagic Camera app on iPhone.
Blackmagic Camera app
The Blackmagic Camera app gives your iPhone the same intuitive and user-friendly interface as Blackmagic Design’s award-winning cameras. You can adjust frame rate, shutter angle, white balance, and ISO all in a single tap. With the app, you can shoot at up to 4K resolution in industry-standard file formats, including ProRes and, in the near future, ProRes RAW. In addition, you can record directly to Blackmagic Cloud. Blackmagic Cloud storage lets customers collaborate on DaVinci Resolve projects with editors anywhere in the world, all at the same time.
Design
The Blackmagic Camera ProDock has a compact box design, weighing just 9.5 ounces (270g). It measures 6.4 inches (163 mm) in width by 2.6 inches (66 mm) in depth by 1 inch (25.4 mm) in height. There’s also an 11.8-inch (300 mm) non-removable cable with a USB-C plug to attach to your iPhone.
The Camera ProDock has ¼-inch pin-lock mounting points on the top and bottom. There’s a tally light on the front as well. Blackmagic Design’s promotional images show an iPhone in a cage with the Camera ProDock attached underneath.
Inputs and outputs
The Blackmagic Camera ProDock has a full-size HDMI 2.1 output. This outputs video with the resolution and frame rate you set in Blackmagic Camera for iOS. There are also 3.5 mm stereo mini jacks for audio in and out. You can use these to add an external microphone as well as headphones to monitor your audio. The Camera ProDock features three USB-C ports, two USB 3.2 high-speed ports for recording to external media, and one USB 2.0 port for accessories.
Also, there is a +12V to +15V DC power input with a locking 5.5 mm barrel connector.
Timecode and genlock
The Blackmagic Camera ProDock has a BNC connector for timecode input. The 3.5 mm audio input also supports timecode in. You can use the timecode for syncing video shot on multiple iPhones when you are editing. The Camera ProDock has another BNC connector for Tri-Sync or Black Burst genlock. However, the genlock feature is only supported on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Using genlock, you can synchronize multiple cameras for multi-cam production. Additionally, you synchronize cameras and LED walls for flicker-free virtual production with an iPhone.
“iPhone has become an incredibly powerful tool for filmmaking, and with new features like genlock, the possibilities continue to expand,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “The new Blackmagic Camera ProDock brings even more flexibility by adding the professional connections filmmakers expect from a cinema camera to an iPhone. When used with Blackmagic Camera, customers also get digital film camera controls, making it the perfect device for multicam and virtual productions. We can’t wait to see how customers are now able to use iPhone in their productions!”
What we think
The Blackmagic Camera ProDock is a useful tool for anyone who needs to integrate their iPhone into a professional production setup. The ability to use timecode and genlock also makes it easy to run multiple cameras or work with a video wall. It’s a shame that the genlock feature is limited to this year’s iPhone models, but that is most likely a hardware issue. For solo shooters, the Camera ProDock may defeat the benefits of agile shooting on a smartphone. However, this new accessory is also evidence of an increasingly positive working relationship between Blackmagic Design and Apple. It can’t be a coincidence that DaVinci Resolve finally gained support for ProRes RAW this week as well. Hopefully, this is a sign of greater things to come from Blackmagic Design and Apple.
Pricing and availability
The Blackmagic ProDock is available now from the Apple Store online and Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide. It retails at $295.
