I found this thread
and I used the gvfs-mount trick which allowed me to import the photos via f-spot.
This thread refers to another bug which indicates that there is a problem with the udev rule to mount cameras via libgphoto2/gphoto2 .
Does the above referenced bug exist in the LMDE Gnome version of Linux Mint? If so, is it worth it to hand-hack the udev rules file to fix this problem.
Thanks.