diff -u b/core/modules/field/lib/Drupal/field/Plugin/Core/Entity/Field.php b/core/modules/field/lib/Drupal/field/Plugin/Core/Entity/Field.php
--- b/core/modules/field/lib/Drupal/field/Plugin/Core/Entity/Field.php
+++ b/core/modules/field/lib/Drupal/field/Plugin/Core/Entity/Field.php
@@ -520,7 +520,7 @@
       'cardinality' => $this->cardinality,
       'required' => FALSE,
       'description' => '',
-      'columns' => $this->columns,
+      'columns' => $this['columns'],
       'module' => $this->module,
     );
     return $field_definition;
diff -u b/core/modules/field/lib/Drupal/field/Plugin/Core/Entity/FieldInstance.php b/core/modules/field/lib/Drupal/field/Plugin/Core/Entity/FieldInstance.php
--- b/core/modules/field/lib/Drupal/field/Plugin/Core/Entity/FieldInstance.php
+++ b/core/modules/field/lib/Drupal/field/Plugin/Core/Entity/FieldInstance.php
@@ -482,7 +482,7 @@
       'cardinality' => $this->field->cardinality,
       'required' => $this->required,
       'description' => $this->description,
-      'columns' => $this->field->columns,
+      'columns' => $this->field['columns'],
       'module' => $this->field->module,
     );
     return $field_definition;