Experimentally determined level densities of the transitional isotopes 148,149,150,152 Sm at excitation energies below and around the neutron binding energy are compared with microcanonical calculations based on a Monte Carlo approach to noncollective level densities, folded with a collective enhancement estimated in the frame of the interacting boson model (IBM). The IBM parameters are adjusted so as to reproduce the low-lying discrete levels of both parities, with the exception of the odd-mass nucleus, 149 Sm, where complete decoupling of the unpaired neutron from the core is assumed.