I played with a spring loaded shutter and cable release for quite a while. When I went to my 4x5 camera and a .016" pin hole, I was working with f stops of f 360 to f 500 and bright sunny day exposures of 6 to 8 seconds with 200 ISO film.
I realized that most of my exposures were perhaps 15 to 30 seconds and holding the release or locking it down was a bit cumbersome, so I made simple shutter similar to the one posted by DWThomas a few posts down. Mr. Thomas's idea was the model of simplicity, a gentle finger push down and it is open, and another push up and it is closed.
I suppose if I was shooting on a sunlit beach or bright snow with light meter pegging sunshine, I would have to tape a couple of gel filters in front of the pinhole. However, to date I have yet to experience exposures of less than 10 to 15 seconds.