My name is Brendan de Clercq and I'm an Irish/French photographer and mixed media artist, currently based in The Netherlands. My interest for photography was passed down from my father - himself an acclaimed photographer and documentary filmmaker. I thrive on powerful imagery with a clear emotional expression, aiming to touch my audience with my work.

One thing that inspires me is taking a different approach to my work and I was delighted when offered the chance to try out the new Sony E wideangle lenses – PZ 10-20mm f/4 G, 11mm f/1.8 and 15mm f/1.4 G.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first handled the lenses but the thing that struck me the most was the size and weight – they’re tiny, but feel very solid in the hand. As an ‘old-school’ photographer I was also very happy to see the inclusion of an aperture ring on the 15mm f/1.4 G and this was the lens I wanted to try first.

I’ve never considered myself a fan of wideangle lenses as a lot of my work is geared towards portraiture, but the notion of a wide lens with such a fast aperture had me intrigued.

Being such a short focal length I was inches from the guitarist, but the bokeh was very smooth and I was particularly impressed with the sharpness on his eyes, even at full aperture. I had so much fun shooting like this that it’s changed my opinion of wideangle lenses!

Next up was the 11mm f/1.8 and I stepped outside with the models. I was so enjoying shooting wide open so I continued this approach. Being a wider angle lens it was harder to get a shallow depth of field but even so I was amazed at the lack of distortion shooting fairly close up portraits.

Shooting the video was where the PZ 10-20mm f/4 G came into its own. The flexibility of the zoom was great, but what was super impressive was the quietness and control of the power zoom. I’ve never used one before but the fine control I was able to achieve was impressive. I was interested to see how the focus breathing suppression would work; it’s something I’ve never really paid attention to before. When I compared the lenses to some older primes I had with me, it was quite a noticeable difference and pretty non-existent.

I didn’t see any difference in sharpness between all three lenses, even the zoom, which I was very impressed with – even having shot pretty much everything at full aperture. The focus response was also very quick and because I was using Eye AF, the focus snapped in immediately before I could even think about the composition.

On a small body like the Alpha 6600, the balance with all three lenses was perfect and I never felt that the handling was front heavy as it can be with small bodies.

It’s one of the things I love about Sony lenses. I never have to worry about the performance and it means I can move quickly, concentrating on my subjects rather than having to be concerned with the outcome.

The experience of trying these lenses, and shooting with such a compact piece of kit was refreshing and great fun. It honestly took me back to being a kid again when I first picked up a camera.

I can see me using these lenses in a wide variety of situations – street photography and architecture spring to mind, but I’m excited to use them for some low light projects and they’ve also got me thinking about trying some starscapes.