My name is Bit Sever and I'd describe myself as a wanderlust-driven photographer and videographer, on a mission to capture the essence of cultures around the globe. Through my work, I strive to unveil the raw authenticity of diverse nations, favouring remote and less developed destinations where the soul of a place truly shines. Most of my work lately focuses on creating a travel series called 'OdBita Pot' which is being broadcast on National television in Slovenia. In the series my brother and I attempt to showcase every continent, so we usually pick the destinations that are not packed with tourists. My travels are usually taking three to four weeks but this time it was a short 10-day trip to the heart of Jordanian desert.

Wadi Rum desert is known for its beauty and Martian-type orange landscapes. My girlfriend and I joined up with some locals who showed us the hidden beauty of the desert and explained how Bedouin tribes live alongside camels, surrounded by the unique orange dunes.

Despite being previously briefed on the technical details of the lens, I was still surprised how small and light it was in the hand. In a way it reminded me of my early days in photography when all I had were standard kit lenses that were cheaply built, noisy and suffered with poor image quality. Not this lens though; despite its size, it's well made, solid and the focusing was practically silent.

The image quality was as I expected from a Sony G lens - crisp across the frame with good contrast and minimal distortion. The focus in particular was extremely quick and accurate. There was a situation where I photographed a man siting indoors in very low light, with his face only illuminated by a fireplace, and the camera never once struggled to track his eye as he moved.

Focus breathing can be most noticeable when filming videos and changing the focus point from foreground to background, which can be very distracting to watch and can confuse a viewer easily. With this lens I found the built-in suppression worked well and I hardly noticed any shift in the frame as I switched focus points. I also really like the manual aperture ring when I'm filming, and the ability to disable the clicks meant I could change the aperture silently. Another feature that was a pleasant surprise was the close focus capability - down to only 0.19m - which satisfied all my macro needs during the trip, and I can't say I needed to get closer to the subject than I got.

The balance between the lens and body is very important on long shooting days especially when you are filming videos because it plays a major role when you need to hold your shot steady. The more it is balanced in your hand the better the end result is going to be. I found out that it was a bit lighter than I would prefer when attached to my Alpha 7R V, but it was a perfect combination with the Alpha 7C II since it is much lighter, and the total weight is distributed more evenly.

If I'm being honest, I have to say that Sony lenses haven't disappointed me yet. I have been using them since I got my first Alpha 7S II back in 2016. They are a perfect fit with Sony cameras and supporting the features new cameras have to offer and this lens is no exception.

As a travel photographer and videographer, I am trying to best showcase the authenticity of every destination I visit. That often means that places are remote and hard to reach which often leads to difficult hikes and sometimes even climbing. My camera backpack is usually filled with two camera bodies, four lenses, two microphones, led lights, extra batteries, chargers, cables, laptop and a tripod.

In my ten-year career I am already noticing back pain and because of that it is even more crucial to keep my backpack as light as possible without sacrificing the quality of the end product. A lens like this proves it's possible; a fast zoom in a compact size with excellent quality.

I can see this lens being a permanent fixture for future travels, since the focal range is a versatile fit for shooting 'on-the-go'. I found that shooting wide open at 50mm gave superb results for portraits with nice bokeh and a good separation between subject and background.

Its compact size does not attract as much attention as large zoom lenses which allowed me to capture people at their most authentic, such as man pouring a tea, sitting on the wall or just an amazing Martian-like landscape before the sunrise where I had to climb the rocks to get the shot.