The resolution of pairs of objects closer than the scale of seeing, and of difference of magnitude larger than ten percent is unreliable by direct imaging. The resulting image FWHM differs from a true PSF by no more than four percent. Yet, the peak of the associated Gaussian is shifted to a larger proportion.

The main results are the description of the FWHM and peak location shifts as function of the seeing scale, the centers separation, and of the magnitudes difference. Analytically, the estimators of variation were the resulting Gaussian amplitude, mean value, and standard deviation. The later is shown to be the most reliable estimator.