In a real image the light rays actually are brought to a focus at the image position, and the real image may be made visible on a screen—e.g., a sheet of paper—whereas a virtual image cannot. Examples of real images are those made by a camera lens…

This image may be either real—photographable or visible on a screen—or virtual—visible only upon looking into the lens, as in a microscope. The image may be much larger or smaller than the object, depending on the focal length of the lens and on the distance between the lens and the…

A real image is formed outside the system, where the emerging rays actually cross; such an image can be caught on a screen or piece of film and is the kind of image formed by a slide projector or in a camera. A virtual image, on…