Having a UV in front of the lens there is 2 schools on the thought. 1 is to have it for protection. The filter gets damages and not the front element. The 2nd is to not have a filter there as adding anything to the front of the lens will degrade the image even if its just a little bit. I am in the 2nd school of thought. For protection I use a lens hood. Should have a hood on anyway to keep stray light out. Now I do use filters. But I do not use UV or clear filters.
As for which type to get. Always go for multicoated filters. The coating process helps prevent light reflections between glass. As for which brands that is up to you. As there are several like Hoya, B+W, Cokin (square style), Heliopan, Nikon / Canon (not as widly known). Of course there are more brands but they are considered "cheaper" filters. The thing to look for is Glass, metal rings (not plastic), and multi-coating. Each of the manufacturers I mentioned useually have a couple lines of filters. Each step up is a better design and of course higher price.
The best way to think of using filters is you paid good money to buy good or even the best lens. Why would you put a cheap filter where its performance will be less than your lens. Buy putting a cheap filter in front, your wasting the money you spent on the lens. As the filter itself will degrade the shot.
The best thing to do it buy a very good filter that fits your biggest fliter ring size. Or even a lens you plan on buying in the near future. To use it on your smaller lenses you can buy an inexpensive step up ring for $10 to $15. That way your very good filter fits all your lenses. That way you can afford to buy a very good one versus buying several mid or cheap ones. You have the quality and usefullness of a very good filter.
I started off with B+W filters. And like I suggested, my first was 77mm (largest lens at the time). And I bought some step up rings (52mm and 62mm). That way I could use it on the 3 lenses I had. I have since picked up some Hoya Pro 1 Digitals, and even a Heliopan. And no longer need the step up rings. But when first starting out, unless your loaded, you have to make choices in what your buying. A good Circular Polarizer is a good start. And you may find a neutral density filter may be usefull as well. A UV and Clear filter would be way down on my gotta have list.
In a pinch I have purchased cheaper / no-name filters. Their lower quality shows vs. the better filters. But sometimes, like in my case where I dropped one. It is better to have one than not. In this case I was on a long trip and had to have a Circular Polarizer. The only thing available was a store branded filter that was multicoated, but still not the best quality. You can tell the difference!
. hoya makes UV good filters that are not outrageously expensive. I use nikon polarizers for landscape photography. these are more expensive but i prefer a better construction for a slim, circular polarizer.
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