Nikon 35mm any good for family portraits?

I have a Nikon D7000 and I'm currently shooting family portraits. I have a 50mm 1.8 lens but I have to back up some in order to get a family of four with background and because of this sometimes the people do not come out as sharp. Do you think a 35mm would fix this, since I wouldn't have to stand so far away?

The Nikon D7000 is a fine camera, and should work well for portraits.

I'm going to guess that you are working indoors, and don't have enough light. The built-in flash won't produce enough light if you're backing away to get a group.

Try again, either outside, or in a well-sunlit room. Practice until you learn what works.

'Backing up' won't affect your focus, so I'm not sure why you say that when you backup things are not so sharp!

The 35mm is ok for group portraits, but it is a wide angle lens so will cause some distortion if you use it up close.

I had the same issue with my 50mm lens on my Canon.
A 40mm lens solved it for me.
If you have the standard 18-55 kit lens set it at 35mm and see if that does the job. If it is not wide enough then consider a 28mm or Sigma 30mm F/1.4.
Sigma have just released an 18-35mm f/1.8 that is getting some VERY good reviews.