Recommend a vintage lens for only partial coverage of 6x17 negative?

Sorry, this mixes medium format, panoramic, and large format categories, but it's the lens I'm asking about, so I picked the LF forum.

I've learned from others that modern lenses have generally excellent sharpness over the entirety of their image circles, and vignette very abruptly at the edge if their image circles. I'm looking for a lens that's noticeably softer at the sides, with more gradual vignetting, and even a bit of distortion at the corners would be nice, but that might only exist with wide angle lenses.

From Googling, I can tell people like classic old Voigtländer Heliars:

• Voigtländer Heliar: Introduced in 1900, this five-element lens is known for its soft rendering and unique character, especially when used wide open.

If I've found the right models on eBay (with f4.5, 21, 24, or 30 cm length), the ones in good conditions with shutters seem to be around $1,300. But I've been unable to determine the size of the image circle or whether these lenses were for 4x5 or 8x10. I know 150mm is normal for 4x5, so as portrait lenses, 21-30cm would make sense. It would be better for me, in both cost terms and aesthetic terms, if I could find one designed for 4x5, as 8x10 coverage would be massive overkill for a medium format negative without movements.

The only modern lens that seems possibly suitable is Schneider Angulon, not Super.

"The older, non-Super versions of these wide-angle lenses can produce significant vignetting and edge softness when used on larger formats."

I don't know whether to trust that quote, though.

Thank you for reading and considering my query.

Have a look at old folding cameras - or 9x12 cameras, even. The big old folders, that took postcard-size negatives, have lenses that pretty much cover 4x5 and will definitely have gradual vignetting in the corners bigger than that. So, the edges of a 6x17 negative would probably be getting quite soft. Those lenses are usually in very limited shutters - but the good thing about those shutter is, they normally work. I've used such lenses on 4x5 and 3x4 cameras - you get no movements on 4x5 from a lens from a Kodak 3A camera.

The lens from a 100-year-old camera is definitely "vintage".

What lens you'll need depends a lot on what film format you will be using -- which is unspecified. But, it's a good idea to look around for old -- and I mean OLD -- lenses, after you decide on what format you want. Anything modern is going to have a cliff on the edges (except soft-focus lenses).

Let's take 4x5 for example. Do you want slightly wide like 125mm, wider, like 90mm or very wide like 65mm? The wider you go, the harder it will be to find lenses. And with old lenses, you need to figure out how to attach them.

One inexpensive option is to make your own OLD lenses -- you might already have just about everything you need.

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/softfocus.htm