Hey Ron–
I used to fret about this as well, but here’s what I’ve discovered over the last two or three years (in no particular order of importance):
(1) I barely even USE my nice, purty 32″ LED/LCD monitor; maybe just for real detail stuff, but that’s about it.
(2) I’d say don’t waste your money on “studio” monitors; since there’s no real apples-to-apples comparisons that I can even think of anymore, it’s just not gonna really matter if you get something “pretty decent”. I think I spent $800 for my LG monitor; it’s gorgeous, but I probably could have just as effectively gotten something for half the price.
(3) To more directly answer your question about calibration, here’s what occurred to me that works just fine: I did a shoot, and got my camera LCD display looking perfect compared to what just my raw eyeballs saw. When I got back to my studio, I just tweaked my work monitor and LG monitor until they looked like my camera display.
Apples to apples to apples. Bodda bing.
Call me simplistic and crazy, but that’s what seems just dandy here.
–Kelly