Description: This article discusses L-shell x-ray production cross sections for light ions on Sm, Yb, and Pb. L-shell x-ray production cross sections for the Ll, Lα₁,₂, Ly₁, and Ly₂,₃₍₆₎ have been measured for ¹H, ⁴He, and ⁷Li on Yb and Pb and for ⁴He and ⁷Li on Sm. The energy ranges for the incident-ion species were 0.3 to 2.4 MeV/amu for ¹H, 0.15 to 4.4 MeV/amu for ⁴He, and 0.9 to 3.0 MeV/amu for ⁷Li. Comparisons of the Lα₁,₂, Ly₁, and Ly₂,₃₍₆₎ x-ray production cross-section data have been made to the predictions of the plane-wave Born approximation (PWBA) and the PWBA with corrections for Coulomb deflection and/or binding-energy effects. The comparisons show that for the individual x-ray production cross sections, there are problems associated with the binding-energy correction calculations for the Ly₁ and Ly₂,₃ x-ray data. Furthermore, measurements of the ration of Lα₁,₂ to Ly₂,₃ x-ray intensities do not support the use of an increased effective binding energy in the PWBA formulation.