The hardware
On the physical side, the Prodock is a sturdy box made of metal, which should be able to survive the rigours of daily use in serious production. In the centre, there are 1/4“ threads, both on the top and the bottom, to add it under your phone while connecting to the support. The included power supply has a locking screw, and the three USB connections can also be secured by screws.
These can’t be used for power input; you’d need another 12V (15V max.) source capable of delivering 5A where no mains power is available. Unfortunately, such standardised options don’t exist to secure its full-sized HDMI out. Audio in and out are just analog 3.5 mm stereo connectors, switchable to mic or line levels. On the rear, there’s just a single, short USB-C cable to connect the phone.
The software side
A simple setup utility allows you to change a few settings, like changing the connection to use for timecode or switching audio levels, by connecting that dangling cable to a computer. It also serves firmware updates and dimming or disabling status indicator lights in critical environments. Most of the settings are also available from BM’s camera app, in particular, all audio adjustments. The HDMI connector can generally be used for monitoring and works very well with all kinds of options for a video feed from the camera app by BM. While there are some other USB-C adapters also offering HDMI output, not all of them work reliably with all above options.
During our testing only one adapter by Anker could replace the ProDock in this respect. Two others only mirrored the app’s GUI from the phone, while HDMI from the ProDock strictly follows resolution and frame rate of the camera app. HDMI should also connect to an ATEM Mini Switcher, and allow control of the camera app, but we didn’t have such a device around for testing.
Of course, monitoring by HDMI alone would not justify the use of the ProDock, its main purposes are integration to a professional environment, powering the iPhone, and connecting external storage and peripherals.
Integration
Both the genlock and the timecode input by BNC will only accept those specific signals, like from BM’s Sync Generator for genlock, or all kinds of TC generators for timecode. They don’t strip such information from every video SDI signal, so just using an HDMI to SDI converter connected to a hybrid camera with TC via HDMI did not work. TC can also come via the 3,5 mm input as an SMPTE-compliant signal. So, this is strictly a device for professional needs, like locking LED walls and the phone for virtual production or recording stereo-3D with two cameras.
Syncing separate audio recording is another important use case, even if the iPhone alone is now capable of very high-quality audio with an appropriate source. For the demanding ProRes RAW signal, in particular at open gate and high frame rates, fast external storage is obligatory. Two of the USB-C connectors with level 3.2 will connect and power such storage.
While BM’s manual mentions exFAT, APFS or HFS+ as usable formats, Apple recommends exFAT for devices connected to an iPhone. Even if exFAT is not the most reliable format for other uses, we did not encounter any issues with hours of recording to SSDs formatted that way. The third USB connector is only level 2.0 and meant to connect and power slower accessories.
Going for a 15?
We were a bit curious to what degree an iPhone 15 Pro Max would also work with the ProDock. After all, it was the first phone by Apple with USB-C connecting to storage and all models of 15 and 16 from the Pro line are listed as compatible under iOS 26 or later. It does not have the hardware for external sync, so the ProDock would not be much more than a hub for storage, power, and TC.
While we didn’t observe any issues when recording to a fast SSD with an iPhone 17 Pro, the 15 Pro Max occasionally interrupted recording on the same SSD due to dropped frames. No huge criticism here, it might just be that this SSD was close to its limits, and the issue could not be reproduced at all times. Whatever you use, the ProDock or any hub, it’s essential to test your drives and cables carefully before any important shooting. Please see these tests by Kurt Friis Hansen.
Final remarks
Apart from the above-mentioned general professional uses, Blackmagic is obviously targeting the use of their ATEM switchers with multiple iPhones in sync and fully controllable via HDMI (or SDI with a converter). In this context, we are a bit disappointed that you can’t send TC or trigger signals via HDMI from a camera that supports them to a recorder, like a Sony A7IV. Adding this option by a firmware update might widen the market for this device for just syncing one such camera and the phone. Apart from that, the ProDock was proving very reliable. BTW, the manual is multi-lingual, just like the Blackmagic Camera app, and can be downloaded from the support side if you need more detailed information.
Addendum (July 28th)
We have been made aware by user Irakly Shanidze on the BM forum of an issue you may experience with the ProDock. He reported that he has observed the HDMI signal of the ProDock sticking to 60 fps, whatever the camera app is set to, and becoming oversaturated and generally off.
We can’t verify that, since we don’t have the review device any more, but he posted a workaround:
– Connect the phone to ProDock and launch Blackmagic App.
– Get out from the app and go to Camera Settings > Display & Brightness
– Go to the Blackmagic Camera menu item (it is only visible after the first steps have been executed)
– Select “Allow monitor changes”
– Unselect HDR (even though it says “recommended”) and select SDR instead.
Thank you, Irakly!
To our readers: please report if you encounter the same and under which version of iOS and the camera app. We also have informed BM about this.
Addendum (August 30th)
The new M5 Macs, even the mini, now support genlock by ProDock too!
