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Genlocking an iPhone 17 for VP Work via Blackmagic Pro Dock

Summary

An iPhone 17 was genlocked for a virtual production shoot by connecting it to a Blackmagic Video Assist / Pro Dock (product code W-DOC-04), which was in turn fed by an AJA Gen10 sync generator also feeding the RT-14. This setup has been used at real production scale — one operator's account describes ~20 such rigs deployed for a live sports broadcast on Fujinon box lenses, feeding an OB van directly. The camera itself is controlled via the Blackmagic app, recording ProRes internally or to an external SSD, at frame rates up to 240fps.

Symptoms / Context

  • Not a bug — a confirmed, working VP camera-sync configuration for a non-traditional camera (iPhone).
  • Relevant when a production needs a small/discreet or crash-safe camera genlocked into an LED volume or robot-synced setup.

Community Guidance

[CONFIRMED] AJA Gen10 → Blackmagic Pro Dock → iPhone 17

Community — Peter Constan-Tatos, Simon Wakley — 11 July 2026

"For our application we had to genlock an iPhone17 so we had a black magic pro dock (which connects to the phone) and an AJA connected to that and the RT[-14]."

"It gets worse. Here it is with a probe on a nano with someone famous operating. [...] shortly after this they ordered 20 setups like this (sans nano of course) for one of your football games, in LA I believe, and put them on a Fujinon box lens and ran the feeds direct to the OB van."

"The camera in the iph[one]17 is really good plus you can control it thru the black magic app and record pro res to internal or an external ssd and up to 240 fps. Next level…"

Setup:

  1. AJA Gen10 (or equivalent sync generator) feeds both the RT-14 and the Blackmagic Video Assist / Pro Dock (W-DOC-04).
  2. The Pro Dock physically connects to and genlocks the iPhone.
  3. Camera control, monitoring, and ProRes recording (internal or external SSD) is handled through the Blackmagic app, independent of the phone's native camera app.
  4. Confirmed working up to 240fps.

confidence_score: 0.75