movie compression issues - help please

I'm a bit lost as to how to manage a time poor problem i have.
Basically i shot some clips on my iphone 4, in HD obviously, and i now have to edit and put together a 3 minute video that is less than 30 MG!
I imported the clips to iphoto, (quality when played back is retained) then to imovie HD 6.0.3 on my mac, they are huge in size but already lost quality in the import from iphoto then to imovie. They will lose heaps more quality when i export them from imovieHD.
Is there a better way/trick to export or import without losing too much quality?

i also have FC 5.1.4 on my computer but haven't got my head around it too much. Should i use this software?

First, when you go to import the files, choose your options carefully. You do have the option to reduce the quality, so make sure you are not choosing that.

Second, realize that the video you see inside of iMovie is a PREVIEW — it isn’t the finished video.
This lower quality preview is rendered in near-real-time so you can edit.
If it rendered the finished video while you edited, it would be too slow.

So it gives you a preview instead of a fully rendered product in the preview area.
So the real test is to export your video at the highest quality. Then you will see the true quality of the final video.

SM