The iPhone already makes for one heck of a camera with its combination of powerful hardware and sophisticated software. Throw in a few accessories, such as a smartphone gimbal or a smartphone lens, into the mix and you can take it that much closer to a professional setup, whether that’s a mirrorless camera or a cinema camera. That’s exactly the case with the Blackmagic Camera ProDock, which makes the iPhone an even more capable filmmaking rig.
Designed for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, the device gives your smartphone a full complement of professional camera connections, allowing you to hook it up to all sorts of filmmaking accessories. From monitors and mics to switchers and timecode generators, this thing lets you turn the iPhone into a veritable professional setup.
The Blackmagic Camera ProDock has a built-in cable with a USB-C plug that you connect to the iPhone’s USB-C slot. From there, you can use the 1/4-20 pin lock mounting points on the top and bottom of the dock to rig your iPhone in place. Once set up, it gives your iPhone a full-size HDMI output for watching your footage on a production monitor or EVF, a 3.5mm stereo input for connecting an external mic or a mic receiver, and a 3.55mm stereo headphone out for keeping tabs on your audio. The device also offers three USB-C ports, with two of them high-speed USB 3.2 for recording to external SSDs and the other one a standard USB 2.0 for other accessories.
The dock also comes with a pair of dedicated BNC connectors. One is a genlock input for synchronizing your iPhone with multiple cameras and live switchers during multi-cam productions, while also letting you shoot LED walls without flickering or tearing, since you can match the capture rate to the refresh rate of the screens. There is a LED indicator that lights up when the iPhone is syncing via genlock, so you know if it’s working correctly at all times. The other BNC connector offers a timecode input, so you can sync footage from different iPhones during post-production.
The Blackmagic Camera ProDock comes with a 12V DC input that feeds power not just to the dock, but also the iPhone and all connected USB-C accessories. The 12V input allows you to lock the power connector in place, by the way, ensuring you don’t accidentally lose power even while you move around in the middle of a hectic shoot. The whole thing, by the way, weighs just 9.5 oz., allowing you to keep your iPhone filmmaking rig relatively lightweight (depending, of course, on the other accessories you throw in). Can you use this to replace a large-format cinema camera? Probably not, but it definitely makes the iPhone a more viable option for larger filmmaking productions.
The device is designed to be used with the outfit’s free Blackmagic Camera app, which gives iPhone videographers more manual controls and professional tools you don’t quite get from the standard iOS camera app. Oh yeah, the app also now supports ProRes RAW recording when used on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
The Blackmagic Camera ProDock is available now on the Apple Store, where it’s priced at $299.95.
