libgphoto is necessary for PTP cameras as those do not create /dev entries. That is probably why the hints higher up didn't help out.
http://www.debian-ad....org/articles/127
The above is a tutorial on how to set udev and autofs up to automount USB storage devices. The last two comments (Jan and Mar 2010) read like they have the same issue you ran into. It looks like a change to autofs may be the cause (although the switch to v5 seems to have been underway for a couple of years). One got things going by adding an autofs line to /etc/nsswitch.conf
Is there anything in /var/log/debug related to autofs?