Don't confuse light output with brightness.
Brightness is a human thing, and our vision is not linear but sort of logarithmic.
Just pick a value CL resistor for the brightness you need or like.
Small SMD LEDs can already be too bright with a 1k resistor (~3mA).
Had to drop the resistor for the flashing indicator LED on my PC to 47k to not annoy me.
Leo..