diff --git a/modules/optflow/include/opencv2/optflow/pcaflow.hpp b/modules/optflow/include/opencv2/optflow/pcaflow.hpp
index b0a205061..607d9597a 100644
--- a/modules/optflow/include/opencv2/optflow/pcaflow.hpp
+++ b/modules/optflow/include/opencv2/optflow/pcaflow.hpp
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ namespace optflow
  * Solution will be regularized according to this prior.
  * You need to generate appropriate prior file with "learn_prior.py" script beforehand.
  */
-class PCAPrior
+class CV_EXPORTS_W PCAPrior
 {
 private:
   Mat L1;
@@ -84,10 +84,10 @@ public:
   void fillConstraints( float *A1, float *A2, float *b1, float *b2 ) const;
 };
 
-class OpticalFlowPCAFlow : public DenseOpticalFlow
+class CV_EXPORTS_W OpticalFlowPCAFlow : public DenseOpticalFlow
 {
 protected:
-  const PCAPrior *prior;
+  const Ptr<const PCAPrior> prior;
   const Size basisSize;
   const float sparseRate;              // (0 .. 0.1)
   const float retainedCornersFraction; // [0 .. 1]
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ protected:
   const float dampingFactor;
 
 public:
-  OpticalFlowPCAFlow( const PCAPrior *_prior = 0, const Size _basisSize = Size( 18, 14 ),
+  OpticalFlowPCAFlow( Ptr<const PCAPrior> _prior = Ptr<const PCAPrior>(), const Size _basisSize = Size( 18, 14 ),
                       float _sparseRate = 0.02, float _retainedCornersFraction = 0.7,
                       float _occlusionsThreshold = 0.0003, float _dampingFactor = 0.00002 );
 
diff --git a/modules/optflow/samples/optical_flow_evaluation.cpp b/modules/optflow/samples/optical_flow_evaluation.cpp
index 5cbeffec3..4cfc1f89e 100644
--- a/modules/optflow/samples/optical_flow_evaluation.cpp
+++ b/modules/optflow/samples/optical_flow_evaluation.cpp
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ const String keys = "{help h usage ? |      | print this message   }"
         "{m measure      |endpoint| error measure - [endpoint or angular] }"
         "{r region       |all   | region to compute stats about [all, discontinuities, untextured] }"
         "{d display      |      | display additional info images (pauses program execution) }"
-        "{g gpu          |      | use OpenCL}";
+        "{g gpu          |      | use OpenCL}"
+        "{prior          |      | path to a prior file for PCAFlow}";
 
 inline bool isFlowCorrect( const Point2f u )
 {
@@ -258,8 +259,15 @@ int main( int argc, char** argv )
         algorithm = createOptFlow_DeepFlow();
     else if ( method == "sparsetodenseflow" )
         algorithm = createOptFlow_SparseToDense();
-    else if ( method == "pcaflow" )
-        algorithm = createOptFlow_PCAFlow();
+    else if ( method == "pcaflow" ) {
+        if ( parser.has("prior") ) {
+            String prior = parser.get<String>("prior");
+            printf("Using prior file: %s\n", prior.c_str());
+            algorithm = makePtr<OpticalFlowPCAFlow>(makePtr<PCAPrior>(prior.c_str()));
+        }
+        else
+            algorithm = createOptFlow_PCAFlow();
+    }
     else if ( method == "DISflow" )
         algorithm = createOptFlow_DIS();
     else
diff --git a/modules/optflow/src/pcaflow.cpp b/modules/optflow/src/pcaflow.cpp
index 3db6bc27c..36ecf30fe 100644
--- a/modules/optflow/src/pcaflow.cpp
+++ b/modules/optflow/src/pcaflow.cpp
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ namespace cv
 namespace optflow
 {
 
-OpticalFlowPCAFlow::OpticalFlowPCAFlow( const PCAPrior *_prior, const Size _basisSize, float _sparseRate,
+OpticalFlowPCAFlow::OpticalFlowPCAFlow( Ptr<const PCAPrior> _prior, const Size _basisSize, float _sparseRate,
                                         float _retainedCornersFraction, float _occlusionsThreshold,
                                         float _dampingFactor )
     : prior( _prior ), basisSize( _basisSize ), sparseRate( _sparseRate ),
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ void OpticalFlowPCAFlow::calc( InputArray I0, InputArray I1, InputOutputArray fl
   Mat flow = flowOut.getMat();
 
   Mat w1, w2;
-  if ( prior )
+  if ( prior.get() )
   {
     Mat A1, A2, b1, b2;
     getSystem( A1, A2, b1, b2, features, predictedFeatures, size );