If you're looking for a used camera with a top-LCD like your Elan 7ne, the 50D is a good crop sensor choice for around $400. Here's a used listing on eBay as an example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-EOS-50...item19f18d65e8

It uses CF cards, which I'm sure you could get used to. It's rather old, but it's a great prosumer camera even to this day. Though it might have more features than you need, and I'd definitely say that you should look into HDNitehawk's options as well.