Blackmagic Camera ProDock – one of the best iPhone accessories

I recently got my hands on a Blackmagic Camera ProDock and used it to build a production-ready iPhone camera rig. With a single USB-C cable, I was able to connect an external SSD, a wireless microphone, an HDMI monitor, and an Ethernet adapter to my iPhone 16 Pro Max.

It all comes together courtesy of the Blackmagic Camera ProDock, a $295 iPhone accessory announced alongside the iPhone 17 Pro last September. This, combined with a few spare parts I had lying around, allowed me to turn the last generation flagship iPhone 16 Pro Max into a powerful ProRes camera for shooting and live streaming.

Blackmagic Camera ProDock Details

• USB-C uplink connection
• External genlock input and timecode (iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max)
• 2 x USB-C 3.2 expansion ports
• 1 x USB-C 2.0 port
• 12V DC input lock
• HDMI output
• Includes 3.5mm stereo audio input and output
• 1/4-20 pin lock points for top and bottom mounting
• Supports iPhone 15 Pro/Max, 16 Pro/Max, or 17 Pro/Max

Video: The ultimate iPhone accessory

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When the Blackmagic Camera Pro Dock was announced alongside the iPhone 17 Pro, the marketing focus was on the synchronization capabilities enabled by Genlock and Timecode. And while that makes sense for the type of user this product is aimed at, many so-called “casual” users can benefit from the dock as well.

While most average users would not mind syncing multiple iPhones, CFR, and timecode when editing video, it is fair to say that a large portion of users will benefit from the installation of a tripod, near SSD, microphone, and external monitor connection. And that’s what I decided to focus on during my time working with the Blackmagic Camera ProDock.

Advantages of the iPhone camera rig

Instead of managing power for each device in the rig, a single V-mount battery powers everything, including the ProDock, iPhone, and HDMI monitor. The rig allows me to easily connect my iPhone with a single USB-C cable.

The ProDock includes an easy-to-use tally light on the front of the dock to show when recording has started in the Blackmagic Camera app, and the HDMI monitor provides more flexibility when adding shots, especially selfies.

The Blackmagic Camera app can also display all status indicators on the external display, so you can see important information such as microphone levels, recording time, storage, lens, resolution, and battery life. You can also control and monitor the camera remotely from the iPad using a second instance of the Blackmagic Camera app.

Thanks to the 2TB Corsair EX400U SSD attached to my benchmark machine, I can shoot high-quality ProRes videos for longer than I could with my iPhone’s 256GB of internal storage. When I shoot in 4K HEVC, I get 82 hours of video, which allows me to shoot for about 3.5 days straight. And because I save the recordings directly to the external drive, I can connect it to my Mac and start editing without having to take the recordings out of my iPhone.

Thanks to the audio input on the Blackmagic Camera ProDock, I can connect my Rode Wireless Pro receiver and achieve much better sound quality than the iPhone’s internal microphone. And connecting an Ethernet adapter to one of the dock’s USB-C ports allows me to load videos quickly and enjoy low latency when streaming to YouTube directly from the Blackmagic Camera app.

9to5Mac’s Take

The iPhone is already an amazing camera on its own, but there are key areas that make shooting video with an iPhone worse than a standalone camera. Blackmagic ProDock and the Blackmagic Camera app go a long way to leveling the playing field, adding convenient features—external monitor support, high-quality audio, and wireless monitoring—that stand-alone camera users often take for granted.

If you’re serious about iPhone video, you’ve probably noticed some of the pitfalls found in smartphone photography. Building a device like this goes a long way in providing a capable and enjoyable video-taking experience. And, of course, you can customize the layout according to your needs, adding as many or as few extras as you need.

What are your thoughts?