diff --git a/Filters/Core/vtkProbeFilter.cxx b/Filters/Core/vtkProbeFilter.cxx
index 73661872692af87de8a9d3a1288b67386665de4e..dcde7bf0396124e4573f600c45923408d80a01c8 100644
--- a/Filters/Core/vtkProbeFilter.cxx
+++ b/Filters/Core/vtkProbeFilter.cxx
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 =========================================================================*/
 #include "vtkProbeFilter.h"
 
+#include "vtkAbstractCellLocator.h"
 #include "vtkBoundingBox.h"
 #include "vtkCell.h"
 #include "vtkCellData.h"
@@ -30,7 +31,6 @@
 #include "vtkSmartPointer.h"
 #include "vtkSMPTools.h"
 #include "vtkSMPThreadLocal.h"
-#include "vtkStaticCellLocator.h"
 #include "vtkStreamingDemandDrivenPipeline.h"
 
 #include <algorithm>
@@ -404,13 +404,12 @@ void vtkProbeFilter::ProbeEmptyPoints(vtkDataSet *input,
 
   // vtkPointSet based datasets do not have an implicit structure to their
   // points. A cell locator performs better here than using the dataset's
-  // FindCell function.
+  // FindCell function. Using its own FindCell method by default.
   vtkSmartPointer<vtkAbstractCellLocator> cellLocator;
-  if (vtkPointSet::SafeDownCast(source) != nullptr)
+  if ( (vtkPointSet::SafeDownCast(source) != nullptr) &&
+    (this->CellLocatorPrototype != nullptr) )
   {
-    cellLocator.TakeReference(this->CellLocatorPrototype ?
-                              this->CellLocatorPrototype->NewInstance() :
-                              vtkStaticCellLocator::New());
+    cellLocator.TakeReference(this->CellLocatorPrototype->NewInstance());
     cellLocator->SetDataSet(source);
     cellLocator->Update();
   }
diff --git a/Filters/Core/vtkProbeFilter.h b/Filters/Core/vtkProbeFilter.h
index e17328c49f87aafd94e8f9cebd899ec2f85cbbce..e9dc4c94ab40e8e998504ccc6779e625302d27f0 100644
--- a/Filters/Core/vtkProbeFilter.h
+++ b/Filters/Core/vtkProbeFilter.h
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ public:
   //@{
   /**
    * Set/Get the prototype cell locator to use for probing the source dataset.
-   * By default, vtkStaticCellLocator will be used.
+   * By default, vtkDataSet::FindCell is called.
    */
    virtual void SetCellLocatorPrototype(vtkAbstractCellLocator*);
    vtkGetObjectMacro(CellLocatorPrototype, vtkAbstractCellLocator);