We constructed an optical pickup head atomic force microscope (OPH-AFM). The component used to monitor the displacement of the cantilever is made from the optical pickup head of a commercial DVD-ROM. In contrast to previous trials using an optical pickup head, this OPH-AFM provides a direct view of the cantilever and the sample. Therefore, the preliminary imaging process, including placing the laser beam on the cantilever and setting the initial scanning position over the sample, is straightforward. The OPH-AFM showed vertical resolution of below 20 nm, which is close to the maximum performance of the related hardware.