Can you clarify the structure "impress somebody with/by something"?

Question

I found this structure in ldoceonline.com but I am a bit confused about it.

Ok,

to impress somebody with/by something: to make someone feel admiration and respect about something (Source)

And the Source has these examples:

Example 1: We were very impressed by the standard of work.

I think the above sentence can be rewritten as

The standard of work impresses us.

So, I think that the "by" in this case is the preposition of passive form

Ok, some of you may say that it can be expressed as:

"The company impresses us by the standard of work." and when changing to passive form, we can omit "by the company".

However, if that is the case, then the sentence should be written as "The company impresses us by its standard of work." thus can be changed as "We were impressed (by the company) by its standard of work." and "by the company" can be omitted in this case.

Example 2: One candidate in particular impressed us with her knowledge.

I think the above sentence can be rewritten as

One candidate in particular impressed us by her knowledge.

So, I think that the "by" in this case is not the preposition of passive form, but just a normal preposition. I think "by" in this case is an alternative of "with".

Therefore, can I change the second example to the following?

We were impressed by one candidate (in particular) by her knowledge.

So, in this case, the first "by" is the preposition of passive form while the second "by" is a normal preposition and an alternative of "with"