I have no idea about whether this problem still exists. I was using iPhoto 2.0 with MacOS X 10.2.8 Since photos once taken are irreplacable, it might be best never to use the "Erase Camera Contents..." option.
[robg adds: I've always been quite paranoid about digital pictures, and have never trusted the "erase from camera" option in any of the image loading programs I've used -- I always delete them myself from the camera via its menus after I'm 100% sure the images are safely on my (two, actually) hard drives.]

