Nah, that's just dirt. We need to vacuum this place! How embarrassing.
The new rig is about 10x lighter, and the new camera is the gold standard for kite photography. MAN is it good for the job, especially with that lens. What a difference. I don't think they're even in production anymore, but people still sell them on Ebay.
I have the canon A630. Is yours what...the A570 or some such?