Shortcoming not initially visible in reproduction (9)
I believe the answer is:
imitation
'reproduction' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'shortcoming not initially' is the wordplay.
'shortcoming' becomes 'limitation' (a limitation is a shortcoming or flaw).
'not initially' means to remove the first letter.
'limitation' with its first letter removed is 'IMITATION'.
'visible in' is the link.
(Other definitions for imitation that I've seen before include "it's not for real" , "Simulated" , "take-off" , "Unoriginal" , "Copy of an authentic article" .)